1.
Asian Pac J Allergy Immunol
;
2001 Mar; 19(1): 43-8
Article
in English
| IMSEAR
| ID: sea-37225
ABSTRACT
A quantitative competitive nested PCR assay was developed for quantifying HIV-1 proviral DNA in clinical samples. A competitor DNA was constructed from a conserved region of the HIV-1 gag gene by deleting a sequence of 18 base pairs. We quantitated HIV-1 proviral DNA copy number in clinical samples. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 35 HIV-infected patients with a CD4 count range of 4-728 cell/mm3 were analyzed by this method. The copy numbers of HIV-1 DNA detected ranged between 518 to 67,340 copies per 10(6) CD4+ T-cells. The copy numbers correlated inversely with the CD4 counts.