Document 3081
 DOCN  M94A3081
 TI    HIV DNA in seropositive subjects showing stable levels of CD4 counts.
 DT    9412
 AU    Garbuglia AR; Salvi R; Di Caro A; Benedetto A; Montella A; Recchia O; Di
       Sora F; Lauria F; Delfini C; Centre of Virology, S. Camillo Hosp., Rome,
       Italy.
 SO    Int Conf AIDS. 1994 Aug 7-12;10(1):158 (abstract no. PB0059). Unique
       Identifier : AIDSLINE ICA10/94369494
 AB    Since 1982 the progression to AIDS of about 1,000 HIV seropositive
       individuals was evaluated by investigating several clinical parameters
       and in particular the CD4 lymphocyte counts decline. We observed nine
       asymptomatic subjects showing stable or increased levels of CD4 counts,
       even if seven years or more elapsed from the first documentation of
       infection. To get insights on this unusual behaviour, we investigated
       these individuals for: i) detection and quantitation by PCR of HIV DNA
       in lymphocytes and macrophages; ii) presence of HIV DNA in genomic and
       extragenomic fractions (Hirt separation and recognition of 2-LTR
       circles). Macrophages from all subjects were negative for HIV DNA. On
       the contrary, HIV DNA was detected in lymphocytes from 8 out of 9 cases,
       the range of DNA copies being 6-650/10(5) cells. The majority of these
       individuals exhibited HIV DNA positivity in both genomic and
       extragenomic fractions. The ninth subject showing a progressive increase
       of CD4 counts was PCR negative for HIV DNA even when 5 x 10(5) cells
       were analysed. These findings indicate that there is a good correlation
       between viral burden and clinical progression of HIV infection.
 DE    DNA, Viral/*GENETICS  Follow-Up Studies  Human  HIV/*GENETICS  HIV
       Seropositivity/CLASSIFICATION/*IMMUNOLOGY  *Leukocyte Count  Polymerase
       Chain Reaction  T4 Lymphocytes/*IMMUNOLOGY/MICROBIOLOGY  Virus
       Replication/GENETICS  MEETING ABSTRACT

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