Suppressing HIV-1 Infection in Exposed Seronegative Adults

NIAID/NIH RO1, PI: Tuofu Zhu, MD

It has been extensively reported since early in the AIDS pandemic that some individuals fail to seroconvert and lack evidence for HIV-1 infection despite high-risk and/or multiple exposures to HIV-1. The mechanism(s) for resisting productive infection in the vast majority of Exposed Seronegatives (ES) is unknown.   We have demonstrated, for the first time, that HIV-1 actually infects and persists in some ES at extraordinarily low levels.   These levels are well below the detection limit of conventional assays.   This finding was made possible by the development of highly sensitive, redundant PCR technology capable of detecting one viral template amongst millions or even billions of cells.   The goal of this project is to define the viral and host factors that may contribute to the control of HIV-infection in vivo .

Publications:

• Zhu T , Corey L, Hwangbo Y, Lee J, Learn GH, Mullins JI, &   McElrath MJ.   Evidence for Extraordinarily Low Levels of Genetically   Homogeneous Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection in Exposed Seronegative Individuals. J. Virol. In press, 2003.