20.500.12556/RUL-128738 Viral protein Nef is detected in plasma of half of HIV-infected adults with undetectable plasma HIV RNA Objective To address the role of translationally active HIV reservoir in chronic inflammation and non-AIDS related disorders, we first need a simple and accurate assay to evaluate viral protein expression in virally suppressed subjects. Design We optimized an HIV Nef enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and used it to quantify plasma Nef levels as an indicator of the leaky HIV reservoir in an HIV-infected cohort. Methods This study accessed 134 plasma samples from a well-characterized cohort study of HIV-infected and uninfected adults in San Francisco (the SCOPE cohort). We optimized an ELISA for detection of plasma Nef in HIV-negative subjects and HIV-infected non-controllers, and evaluated its utility to quantify plasma Nef levels in a cross-sectional study of ART-suppressed and elite controller HIV-infected subjects. Results Here, we describe the performance of an optimized HIV Nef ELISA. When we applied this assay to the study cohort we found that plasma Nef levels were correlated with plasma HIV RNA levels in untreated disease. However, we were able to detect Nef in plasma of approximately half of subjects on ART or with elite control, despite the lack of detectable plasma HIV RNA levels using standard assays. Plasma Nef levels were not consistently associated with CD4+ T-cell count, CD8+ T-cell count, self-reported nadir CD4+ T-cell count or the CD4+/CD8+ T-cell ratio in HIV-infected subjects. Conclusion Since plasma HIV RNA levels are undetectable in virally suppressed subjects, it is reasonable to assume that viral protein expression in leaky reservoir, and not plasma virions, is the source of Nef accumulating in plasma. To examine this further, improvements of the assay sensitivity, by lowering the background through improvements in the quality of Nef antibodies, and detailed characterization of the HIV reservoirs are needed. viral protein Nef plasma HIV virusni protein Nef plazma HIV true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2021-07-26 15:12:10 2021-07-26 15:12:16 2022-09-07 04:16:54 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2018 0 0 10 str. iss. 1, art. e0191613 Vol. 13 Jan. 2018 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 616.9 1932-6203 10.1371/journal.pone.0191613 33608665 RAZ_Ferdin_Jana_2018.pdf RAZ_Ferdin_Jana_2018.pdf 1 327819D23F5FE231DFF67DC9F23F2594 f557d8926f2f9eeb94f70170ac0d8218ca382bc8f84cedc3bcdcdbf85e7497a2 f0cb7e85-ee12-11eb-a523-00155dcfd717 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=145576 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0191613 0 1700d090-ee14-11eb-a523-00155dcfd717 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=145577 Medicinska fakulteta 0 0 0