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Fluorogenic LUX primer for quantitation of HIV-1 by real-time RT-PCR

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Abstract

Measurement of HIV-1 viral load in plasma is an important marker of disease progression and efficacy of antiretroviral therapy. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) offers an opportunity to develop more affordable alternative viral load assays. This article reports on the development of a novel real-time reverse-transcriptase (RT)-PCR assay for quantitation of HIV-1 RNA copies. This assay utilizes the LightCycler® (version2) real-time PCR platform and light upon extension (LUX) primer for specific detection of amplicons. An external standard (ES) for quantitation of viral RNA represents an in vitro transcribed RNA. The LUX assay shows a wide linear (R 2=0.99) dynamic range from 4×106 to 4×102 copies/mL. Analytical sensitivity of the assay is 4×102 copies/mL of ES RNA. Intra- and inter-assay variability of the LUX assay was less than 0.5log10 copies of ES RNA (i.e., no clinically significant variability was found). Virology quality assurance (VQA) HIV-1 RNA copy controls were used to validate ES and preliminarily evaluate the assay performance. This feasibility study demonstrated that the LUX assay is sensitive, reproducible, and compares well to the Roche Amplicor tests used for characterization of the RNA copy controls. These results suggest further evaluation of the LUX assay using a large cohort of well-characterized samples from HIV-1 positive individuals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Medicine and Hematology, National Health Laboratory Services, University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Health Science, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Natela Rekhviashvili & Wendy Stevens

  2. International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Gwynneth Stevens

  3. Department of Molecular Medicine and Hematology, University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Health Science, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Lesley Scott & Wendy Stevens

Authors
  1. Natela Rekhviashvili
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  2. Gwynneth Stevens
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  3. Lesley Scott
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  4. Wendy Stevens
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Correspondence to Natela Rekhviashvili.

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Rekhviashvili, N., Stevens, G., Scott, L. et al. Fluorogenic LUX primer for quantitation of HIV-1 by real-time RT-PCR. Mol Biotechnol 32, 101–109 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1385/MB:32:2:101

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