Evaluation of HIV diagnosis kits used for blood screening with NIFDC-established HIV-1 seroconver-sion panels / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To establish HIV-1 seroconversion panels with the samples collected by National Institutes for Food and Drug Control ( NIFDC) and to evaluate the window periods of HIV enzyme immunoassay ( EIA) diagnostic kits used for blood screening with them. Methods Serum specimens were collected from different plasma donation stations in China. All suspected HIV infection specimens were screened for HIV by using the nucleic acid amplification testing (NAT), Western blot confirmatory assay and P24 quantitative detection assay. The HIV env gene sequences were amplified by RT-PCR for further confirmation of HIV infection. The PCR products were sequenced and genotyped. The confirmed seroconver-sion panels were used to evaluate the early detection capabilities of the 4th and 3rd generation HIV EIA diag-nostic kits used in blood screening in china. Results A total of 8 sets of HIV seroconversion panels com-prised of 36 samples were confirmed in this study, including 6 sets of AE subtype, 1 set of B subtype and 1 set of unknown genotype. Those seroconversion panels were tested with HIV diagnostic kits produced by 19 different manufacturers. For the early detection of HIV infection, the 4th generation HIV diagnostic kits with a score of 9. 4 points were better than the 3rd generation HIV diagnostic kits whose score was 3. 6 points (P<0. 01, t=8. 547). Some of the domestic 4th generation HIV diagnostic kits were similar to the imported kits in the early detection of HIV infection. In terms of the diagnosis of HIV infection, the HIV-1 NAT was at least 2 weeks earlier than the HIV EIA diagnostic kits. The sensitivity of confirmatory assay was lower than that of the diagnostic kits. Four out of five 4th generation HIV diagnostic kits showed declined signal to cut off ( S/CO ) ratio , indicating the probability of false detection during the second window period . Conclusion Eight sets of NIFDC HIV-1 seroconversion panels were established in this study. With those panels we found that there were differences in the window period between different EIA diagnostic kits used for HIV blood screening.