New aspects and perspectives in AIDS diagnosis

Discovenes on the efficacy of antiretroviral drug have changed the management of HIV patients. More information on viral load is needed with accurate markers of remission and/or eradication. First objective: to evaluete the sensitivity of an innovative protocol for p24 antigen(3 Plus). The p24 assay has a sensitivity of 70 fg/reaction correlates with viral replication,viral load,CD4+cell numbers and therapy efficacy. Thuss it is a useful and inexpensive marker in AIDS management. Second objective: to develop and evaluate assays for total HIV DNA and non-integrated circular DNA. Total HIV DNA was detected in 96.9% of 548 samples from HIV-infected individuals. High levels of total HIV DNA in sequential samples correlated with therapy inefficacy and subsequent HIV replication,confirmed by the detection of non-integrated DNA. In absence of NI-DNA, total HIV DNA contrains only proviral DNA and is the only marker of remission and/or eradication.