[Non conventional virological markers in HIV-infected patients: T-HIV DNA, 2LTR-HIV DNA and HIV RNA].

Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) induces a persistent reduction of the plasmatic viremia, contributing to decrease mortality and morbidity of infected people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Thus, viral load (VL) is the reference method to evaluate therapy effectiveness. However, even in the presence of efficient HAART viral eradication was yet not achieved. In this study, we analyzed the presence of total HIV DNA (T-HIV DNA), non-integrated DNA with 2LTR (2LTR-HIV DNA) and HIV RNA in a group of 55 HIV-positive subjects from Rosario City, with different clinical stages, with and without HAART. All markers were evaluated by PCR assays optimized in our laboratory that included colorimetric detection in microplate. HIV RNA clinical sensitivity was compared with a reference test, bDNA, resulting in 74% and 64% respectively, with an 85% of agreement. Thus, our HIV RNA assay could be used to monitor patients under HAART and at risk of infection. The 2LTR-HIV DNA was 54% positive although it was absent in patients with high VL. This marker was considered a labile product therefore its presence was associated with recent infection. However, current evidences question its stability. Thus, its clinical significance should be reconsidered. The absence of 2LTR-HIV DNA in patients with detectable VL may relate to the heterogeneity of the sequence used for its detection. T-HIV DNA was present in 100% of the samples and could be a relevant remission marker when therapies that effectively eradicate the infection became available.