Isolation of human immunodeficiency virus type 2 biological clones from peripheral blood lymphocytes

Methods Mol Biol. 2005:304:95-112. doi: 10.1385/1-59259-907-9:095.

Abstract

Infectious variants of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can be isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of infected individuals by propagating the virus in co-cultures with healthy donor PBMC. Standardized culture protocols have been designed specifically for the isolation of HIV type 1 (HIV-1) and proven effective for the isolation of virus from virtually all HIV-1-infected individuals. For the isolation of HIV-2, however, standard HIV-1 culture protocols have been only partially effective. While suitable for the isolation of HIV-2 from PBMC of individuals in advanced stages of disease, they appeared largely inadequate for the isolation of HIV-2 from asymptomatically HIV-2-infected individuals. This chapter describes a variant HIV isolation procedure with culture conditions adapted to the isolation of HIV-2 from PBMC of "healthy" HIV-2-infected individuals, i.e., individuals with high CD4+ T-cell numbers and no detectable viral RNA in plasma. By using a limiting dilution format, several biological clones representing individual HIV variants can be obtained from the PBMC of an infected individual. In addition, the frequency of PBMC infected with HIV-2 variants capable of propagating in vitro can be estimated.

MeSH terms

  • CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / virology
  • Clone Cells
  • Coculture Techniques / methods
  • Cryopreservation / methods
  • HIV-2 / isolation & purification*
  • Humans
  • Leukocytes, Mononuclear / virology
  • Lymphocytes / virology*
  • RNA, Viral / blood
  • T-Lymphocyte Subsets / virology
  • Viral Load
  • Virus Cultivation

Substances

  • RNA, Viral