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Long‐term follow‐up study on SIV intestinal proviral load in rhesus macaques
Author(s) -
Didier Andrea,
Petry Harald,
StahlHennig Christiane,
Schäfer Marco,
Zeitz Ulrich,
Schneider Thomas,
Boga José Antonio,
MätzRensing Kerstin,
Herrmann Katrin,
Kaup FranzJosef
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of medical primatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.31
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1600-0684
pISSN - 0047-2565
DOI - 10.1034/j.1600-0684.2000.290306.x
Subject(s) - simian immunodeficiency virus , viral load , virology , biology , virus , gastrointestinal tract , immunology , disease , polymerase chain reaction , pathogenesis , real time polymerase chain reaction , rhesus macaque , medicine , pathology , gene , biochemistry
After experimental infection with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), intestinal endoscopy proved to be an easily tolerated, minimal invasive procedure to obtain biopsies from the gastrointestinal tract of rhesus macaques during all stages of disease. As the GI tract is affected by many opportunistic infections and immunological impairment after SIV/human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, knowledge on the proviral load is an important parameter for a better understanding of disease pathogenesis. In this paper, we describe the set‐up and evaluation of a quantitative competitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the quantification of SIV intestinal proviral load in a long‐term follow‐up study of eight rhesus monkeys ( Macaca mulatta ) after two different routes of virus inoculation. A SIV‐specific signal could be detected as early as day 3 after infection. Of 143 biopsies from the follow‐up study, 85.3% showed a positive PCR. DNA copy numbers ranged from 300 to 15,000 molecules per 100,000 cells. No significant influence of the inoculation route could be shown on either proviral load or survival time, but higher SIV proviral load was associated with a more rapid progression to disease. Therefore, the amount of proviral load in intestinal biopsies may be an important prognostic value for the further course of the disease.