The University of Washington Retrovirology Laboratory provides clinical diagnosis of retroviral infections for the University of Washington Medical Center and associated hospitals. These diagnostic tests include: serologic tests for HIV-1 antibody, HIV-1 p24 and HIV-1 neutralization; HIV-1 isolation and quantification by microculture; and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based tests for detection and quantification.
The Laboratory is the Clinical Retrovirology Core laboratory for the UW CFAR projects and provides virologic support to ongoing research on the epidemiologic, immunobiologic, experimental pathogenesis and clinical research studies of HIV transmission and early infection. Specifically, this support includes HIV-1 isolation and quantification by microculture, DNA and RNA detection and quantification, and antiretroviral drug sensitivity testing, syncytium-inducing phenotype, and serologic procedures for HIV-1 antibody, p24 antigen, and HIV-1 neutralization.
The Laboratory is also the Virology Core Laboratory for the adult and pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Units (ACTU). The goal of the UW ACTU facilities is to perform exemplary HIV/AIDS treatment research as part of the national multicenter AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG). The function of the Virology Core laboratory is to provide virologic support for the adult and pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials group protocols. These services include virologic screening to determine study eligibility, monitoring virologic markers of disease progression and regression, and measurement of antiviral resistance to select antiretroviral drugs. Studies with the Adult ACTU include an examination of the relationship between HIV virus load in the genital epithelium and the risk of transmission in HIV-discordant couples. Seminal studies of the effectiveness of a three-drug regimen consisting of a protease inhibitor and two nucleoside analogues have been carried out in the Adult ACTU. The Pediatric ACTU is responsible for a number of important studies of zidovudine treatment in the prevention of HIV-1 transmission from mother to infant.
The Laboratory has taken a leading role in developing sensitive HIV culture techniques for both peripheral blood mononuclear cells and plasma, and the investigators have continued interest in the validation of quantitative HIV assays as biologic markers of disease progression. The Laboratory has participated in studies of the natural variability of quantitative virologic measures among HIV-1 infected persons to provide a mathematical model to assess whether a potential therapeutic intervention significantly alters peripheral HIV-1 load. The investigators have continued studies of the cutting-edge technologies and models needed to assess disease progression and therapeutic intervention in the individual patient. The Laboratory has also contributed important work on the pathogenesis of HIV infection by studying the natural history of HIV viremia and the measurement of quantitative changes in plasma HIV to assess the efficacy of antiretroviral therapy.
Report courtesy of Anna Marie Beckmann
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Reichelderfer PS, Coombs RW Cartesian coordinate analysis of viral burden and CD4+ cell count in HIV disease: implications for clinical trial design and analysis. Antiviral Res 1996; 29:83-6.
Melvin AJ, Burchett SK, Watts DH, Hitti J, Hughes JP, McLellan CL, King PD, Johnson J, Williams BL, Frenkel LM, Coombs RW. Effect of pregnancy and zidovudine therapy on viral load in HIV-1-infected women. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr Hum Retrovirol 1997; 14:232-6.
Paxton WB, Coombs RW, McElrath MJ, Keefer MC, Hughes J, Sinangil F, Chernoff D, Demeter L, Williams B, Corey L. Longitudinal analysis of quantitative virologic measures in human immunodeficiency virus-infected subjects with 400 or more CD4 lymphocytes: implications for applying measurements to individual patients. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases AIDS Vaccine Evaluation Group. J Infect Dis 1997; 175:247-54.
