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Malatinkova E, Thomas J, De Spiegelaere W, Rutsaert S, Geretti AM, Pollakis G, Paxton WA, Vandekerckhove L, Ruggiero A. Measuring Proviral HIV-1 DNA: Hurdles and Improvements to an Assay Monitoring Integration Events Utilising Human Alu Repeat Sequences. Life (Basel) 2021; 11:life11121410. [PMID: 34947941 PMCID: PMC8706387 DOI: 10.3390/life11121410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2021] [Revised: 12/13/2021] [Accepted: 12/13/2021] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Integrated HIV-1 DNA persists despite antiretroviral therapy and can fuel viral rebound following treatment interruption. Hence, methods to specifically measure the integrated HIV-1 DNA portion only are important to monitor the reservoir in eradication trials. Here, we provide an up-to-date overview of the literature on the different approaches used to measure integrated HIV-1 DNA. Further, we propose an implemented standard-curve free assay to quantify integrated HIV-1 DNA, so-called Alu-5LTR PCR, which utilises novel primer combinations. We tested the Alu-5LTR PCR in 20 individuals on suppressive ART for a median of nine years; the results were compared to those produced with the standard-free Alu-gag assay. The numbers of median integrated HIV-1 DNA copies were 5 (range: 1–12) and 14 (5–26) with the Alu-gag and Alu-5LTR, respectively. The ratios between Alu-gag vs Alu-5LTR results were distributed within the cohort as follows: most patients (12/20, 60%) provided ratios between 2–5, with 3/20 (15%) and 5/20 (25%) being below or above this range, respectively. Alu-5LTR assay sensitivity was also determined using an “integrated standard”; the data confirmed the increased sensitivity of the assay, i.e., equal to 0.25 proviruses in 10,000 genomes. This work represents an improvement in the field of measuring proviral HIV-1 DNA that could be employed in future HIV-1 persistence and eradication studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva Malatinkova
- HIV Cure Research Center, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium; (E.M.); (S.R.); (L.V.)
| | - Jordan Thomas
- Department of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7BE, UK; (J.T.); (G.P.); (W.A.P.)
| | - Ward De Spiegelaere
- Laboratory of Veterinary Morphology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Ghent University, B-9820 Ghent, Belgium;
| | - Sofie Rutsaert
- HIV Cure Research Center, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium; (E.M.); (S.R.); (L.V.)
| | - Anna Maria Geretti
- Fondazione PTV and Faculty of Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy;
- School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences, King’s College London, London WC2R 2LS, UK
| | - Georgios Pollakis
- Department of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7BE, UK; (J.T.); (G.P.); (W.A.P.)
| | - William A. Paxton
- Department of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7BE, UK; (J.T.); (G.P.); (W.A.P.)
| | - Linos Vandekerckhove
- HIV Cure Research Center, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium; (E.M.); (S.R.); (L.V.)
| | - Alessandra Ruggiero
- Department of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7BE, UK; (J.T.); (G.P.); (W.A.P.)
- Department Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, School of Medicine-University of Verona, 37129 Verona, Italy
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +39-045-802-7190
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Thomas J, Ruggiero A, Paxton WA, Pollakis G. Measuring the Success of HIV-1 Cure Strategies. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2020; 10:134. [PMID: 32318356 PMCID: PMC7154081 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2020.00134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2020] [Accepted: 03/13/2020] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
HIV-1 eradication strategies aim to achieve viral remission in the absence of antiretroviral therapy (ART). The development of an HIV-1 cure remains challenging due to the latent reservoir (LR): long-lived CD4 T cells that harbor transcriptionally silent HIV-1 provirus. The LR is stable despite years of suppressive ART and is the source of rebound viremia following therapy interruption. Cure strategies such as "shock and kill" aim to eliminate or reduce the LR by reversing latency, exposing the infected cells to clearance via the immune response or the viral cytopathic effect. Alternative strategies include therapeutic vaccination, which aims to prime the immune response to facilitate control of the virus in the absence of ART. Despite promising advances, these strategies have been unable to significantly reduce the LR or increase the time to viral rebound but have provided invaluable insight in the field of HIV-1 eradication. The development and assessment of an HIV-1 cure requires robust assays that can measure the LR with sufficient sensitivity to detect changes that may occur following treatment. The viral outgrowth assay (VOA) is considered the gold standard method for LR quantification due to its ability to distinguish intact and defective provirus. However, the VOA is time consuming and resource intensive, therefore several alternative assays have been developed to bridge the gap between practicality and accuracy. Whilst a cure for HIV-1 infection remains elusive, recent advances in our understanding of the LR and methods for its eradication have offered renewed hope regarding achieving ART free viral remission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jordan Thomas
- Department of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Alessandra Ruggiero
- Department of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.,Immune and Infectious Disease Division, Academic Department of Pediatrics (DPUO), Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy
| | - William A Paxton
- Department of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Georgios Pollakis
- Department of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
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Van Hecke C, Trypsteen W, Malatinkova E, De Spiegelaere W, Vervisch K, Rutsaert S, Kinloch-de Loes S, Sips M, Vandekerckhove L. Early treated HIV-1 positive individuals demonstrate similar restriction factor expression profile as long-term non-progressors. EBioMedicine 2019; 41:443-454. [PMID: 30770230 PMCID: PMC6442000 DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2019.02.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2018] [Revised: 02/05/2019] [Accepted: 02/05/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Clarissa Van Hecke
- HIV Cure Research Center, Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University and Ghent University Hospital, Corneel Heymanslaan 10, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Wim Trypsteen
- HIV Cure Research Center, Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University and Ghent University Hospital, Corneel Heymanslaan 10, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Eva Malatinkova
- HIV Cure Research Center, Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University and Ghent University Hospital, Corneel Heymanslaan 10, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Ward De Spiegelaere
- Department of Morphology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium
| | - Karen Vervisch
- HIV Cure Research Center, Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University and Ghent University Hospital, Corneel Heymanslaan 10, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Sofie Rutsaert
- HIV Cure Research Center, Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University and Ghent University Hospital, Corneel Heymanslaan 10, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Sabine Kinloch-de Loes
- Division of Infection and Immunitys, Royal Free Hospital and Royal Free Campus, University College London, Pont St, Hampstead, London NW3 2QG, United Kingdom
| | - Magdalena Sips
- HIV Cure Research Center, Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University and Ghent University Hospital, Corneel Heymanslaan 10, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Linos Vandekerckhove
- HIV Cure Research Center, Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University and Ghent University Hospital, Corneel Heymanslaan 10, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
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Thomas J, Ruggiero A, Procopio FA, Pantaleo G, Paxton WA, Pollakis G. Comparative analysis and generation of a robust HIV-1 DNA quantification assay. J Virol Methods 2018; 263:24-31. [PMID: 30326210 DOI: 10.1016/j.jviromet.2018.10.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2018] [Revised: 10/11/2018] [Accepted: 10/12/2018] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
HIV-1 infection cannot be cured due to the presence of the latent reservoir (LR). Novel cure or treatment strategies, such as "shock and kill" or therapeutic vaccination, aim to reduce or eradicate the LR. Cure strategies utilise robust DNA quantification assays to measure the change in the LR in low copy scenarios. No standard assay exists, which impedes the reliable comparison of results from different therapy and vaccine trials and HIV-1 total DNA quantification methods have not been previously compared. The HIV-1 long terminal repeat (LTR) has been shown to be the best target for DNA quantification. We have analysed two HIV-1 quantification assays, both able to differentiate between the variant HIV-1 DNA forms via the use of pre-amplification and primers targeting LTR. We identify a strong correlation (r=0.9759, P<0.0001) between assays which is conserved in low copy samples (r=0.8220, P<0.0001) indicating that these assays may be used interchangeably. The RvS assay performed significantly (P=0.0021) better than the CV assay when quantifying HIV-1 total DNA in patient CD4+ T lymphocytes. Sequence analysis demonstrated that viral diversity can limit DNA quantification, however in silico analysis of the primers indicated that within the target region nucleotide miss-matches appear infrequently. Further in silico analysis using up to-date sequence information led to the improvement of primers and enabled us to establish a more broadly specific assay with significantly higher HIV-1 DNA quantification capacity in patient samples (p=0.0057, n=17).
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Affiliation(s)
- Jordan Thomas
- Department of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology (CIMI), Institute of Infection and Global Health (IGH), University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Alessandra Ruggiero
- Department of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology (CIMI), Institute of Infection and Global Health (IGH), University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Francesco A Procopio
- Service of Immunology and Allergy, Lausanne University Hospital, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Giuseppe Pantaleo
- Service of Immunology and Allergy, Lausanne University Hospital, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - William A Paxton
- Department of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology (CIMI), Institute of Infection and Global Health (IGH), University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Georgios Pollakis
- Department of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology (CIMI), Institute of Infection and Global Health (IGH), University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
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