Infectious virus titer, replicative and syncytium-inducing capacity of human immunodeficiency virus type 1

✍ Scribed by John N. Nkengasong; Martine Peeters; Patrick Nys; Betty Willems; Peter Piot; Guido van der Groen

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 447 KB
• Volume: 45
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0146-6615
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.1890450115

✦ Synopsis

The relationship was investigated between a viral infectious titer in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and plasma on the replicative and syncytium-inducing capacity of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) isolates. The replicative capacity was defined as the minimum time required for p24 antigen to become positive in PBMCs or plasma of HIV-1 infected individuals, cocultured with PBMCs of healthy donors. Syncytium induction was determined by the MT-2 cell assay and defined as the presence of giant multinucleated cells. The replicative capacity of HIV-1 in PBMCs of healthy donors correlated with the infectious viral titer in PBMCs, but not in the plasma of HIV-1 positive patients. Syncytia formation in MT-2 cells was not related to the infectious viral titer in PBMCs or plasma of HIV-1 positive patients. These findings suggest that syncytium formation, not replicative capacity, is an intrinsic HIV-1 phenotype.