Quantification of Antisense HIV RNA in Patients

The research team will quantify the expression level of total HIV-1 antisense transcripts in PBMCs from two groups of HIV-1-infected persons: still untreated and virologically controllled on treatment.

The research team will also study (i) the correlation between the expression level of total HIV-1 antisense transcripts and the levels of total and integrated HIV-1 DNA in PBMCs, (ii) the correlation between the expression level of the unspliced HIV-1 sense transcript and the levels of total and integrated HIV-1 DNA in PBMCs, (iii) the correlation between the expression levels of total HIV-1 antisense transcripts and the level of the unspliced HIV-1 sense transcript in PBMCs, (iv) whether the correlations are different in the two groups of HIV-1-infected persons : still untreated patients vs. patients with virological control on antiretroviral treatment. Quantification of viral transcripts will rely on quantitative RT-PCRs, yielding the quantity of viral RNAs, normalized on the expression of 2 housekeeping genes, and on a digital RT-PCR, yielding the absolute number of viral RNA copies.

The quantification of total and integrated HIV-1 DNA will rely on a quantitative PCR yielding the number of HIV-1 DNA copies/million of PBMCs, according to the technique described in Tremeaux P et al, EBioMedicine 2019;41:455-64. The percentage of intact proviral DNA will be estimated according to the technique described in Bruner KM et al, Nature 2019; 566 :120-5

Inclusion criteria

• HIV-1 infection
• ability to understand the objectives and protocols of the research and to sign the informed consent

• group 1 : treatment-naive patients with a detectable HIV-1 viral load
• Have not received any antiretroviral treatment
• At the chronic stage as determined during the clinical examination and confirmed by a western blot complete HIV antigens ("env" bands (gp 120 and 160). + "gag" and "pol" bands) with the presence of p31+

*Group 2: patients with chronic HIV-1 infection on antiretroviral therapy efficient

• Have been on antiretroviral therapy for less than a year
• With a plasma HIV RNA < 50 copies/mL of blood for at least 6 months

Exclusion criteria

• ongoing HIV primary infection
• coinfection with HIV-2 or HTLV-1/2
• ongoing AIDS-defining clinical condition
• ongoing infectious disease of any type
• ongoing immunosuppressive treatment
• incompetent adults, persons under the protection of a conservator, tutor or guardian
• participation in a trial testing a medication in the 3 months preceding blood sampling
• pregnant or lactating woman