Evaluation of the use of plasma preparation tubes for HIV viral load testing on the COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS TaqMan HIV-1 version 2.0

• Published in: Journal of virological methods Vol. 187; no. 2; pp. 248 - 250
• Main Authors: Goedhals, Dominique, Scott, Lesley E., Moretti, Serena, Cooper, Mark A., Opperman, Willem J.L., Rossouw, Inèz
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier B.V 01.02.2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; antiretroviral agents; antiretroviral therapy; Biological and medical sciences; CAP/CTM HIV-2 v2; cost effectiveness; Edetic acid; EDTA (chelating agent); Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; HIV Infections - virology; HIV viral load; HIV-1 - isolation & purification; Human immunodeficiency virus 1; Humans; Male; Microbiology; Middle Aged; monitoring; patients; Plasma - virology; PPT; RNA; Specimen Handling - methods; Techniques used in virology; therapeutics; viral load; Viral Load - methods; Virology; Young Adult; CAP/CTM HIV-2 v2; PPT; HIV viral load; Immunopathology; HIV-1 virus; Pesticides; Organic phosphinate; Retroviridae; AIDS; Method; Immune deficiency; Lentivirus; Herbicide; HIV-2 virus; Infection; Virus; Viral disease; Human immunodeficiency virus; Viral load
• ISSN: 0166-0934; 1879-0984
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jviromet.2012.11.019

► The use of PPT samples was evaluated on the CAP/CTM HIV-1 v2.0. ► The assay performed well when PPT samples were compared with standard EDTA samples. ► PPT can be used for viral load testing on the CAP/CTM HIV-1 v2.0. HIV viral load monitoring forms an essential part of the management of patients receiving antiretroviral therapy, but transport of samples without loss of RNA integrity may be problematic in resource limited settings. The use of plasma preparation tubes (PPT) which can be centrifuged to separate cellular components before transport may provide a simple and cost-effective alternative to standard EDTA samples. We investigated whether PPT generated reliable results using the COBAS® AmpliPrep/COBAS® TaqMan® HIV-1 test version 2.0 (CAP/CTM HIV-1 v2.0). The mean difference between EDTA and PPT prepared samples (n=261) was acceptable (log 0.04copies/ml, percentage similarity CV 3.53%). PPT can be used for viral load testing on the CAP/CTM HIV-1 v2.0.