Virus Culture

HIV-1 can be cultured from plasma or peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of infected individuals. A positive culture provides direct evidence of HIV-1 infection, but virus culture is rarely necessary to establish a diagnosis. Virus culture is used almost exclusively for research purposes, particularly with regard to viral growth properties and drug resistance.

Virus is easily cultured from PBMC of infected patients who are not on antiretroviral therapy. Cultures are performed by mixing patient cells with cells from uninfected donors that have been stimulated with phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and IL-2. HIV-1 can also be recovered from latently infected PBMC of patients with undetectable plasma viremia. Resting cells that carry latent virus usually belong the memory class of CD4 T cells and constitute an important reservoir of HIV-1 (31-33). CD8 T lymphocytes that are present in PBMC exert an antiviral effect and may prevent outgrowth of virus in vitro.

Therefore, it is usually necessary to remove these cells in vitro in order to recover virus from patients on effective antiretroviral therapy.

4/15/01

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