Summary of the different studies with seminal plasma sample analysis of HIV-1 patients under combination antiretroviral therapy and with an undetectable blood plasma viral load.

<p>N/A, not available; cART, combination antiretroviral therapy; SPS, seminal plasma sample; bpVL, blood plasma viral load; spVL, seminal plasma viral load; Grp, group.</p><p>* Estimated results based on figures and numbers in published studies.</p><p>** Group 1: 1 non-nucleosidic reverse transciptase inhibitor+2 nucleosidic reverse transciptase inhibitor, Group 2: 1 protease inhibitor+2 nucleosidic reverse transciptase inhibitor, Group 3: other combination.</p

Timing of Intermittent Seminal HIV-1 RNA Shedding in Patients with Undetectable Plasma Viral Load under Combination Antiretroviral Therapy

<div><p>It was demonstrated that combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) reduces the HIV-1 viral load (VL) in the blood and the seminal compartment. Some studies have reported that the seminal HIV-1 VL is undetectable in individuals with an undetectable blood plasma viral load (bpVL) under cART. However, some recent studies have demonstrated that seminal HIV-1 RNA may still be detected, and potentially infectious, even in the case of an undetectable bpVL. The aim of this retrospective study was to determine the detection rate of a seminal VL and whether shedding could be intermittent over a very short time.</p><p>From January 2006 to December 2011, 88 HIV-1 infected men, enrolled in an Assisted Reproduction program, provided 306 semen samples, corresponding to 177 frozen sperm samples (two samples delivered at a one-hour interval (n = 129) or one sample (n = 48)). All enrolled men were under cART, with an undetectable bpVL for more than 6 months. HIV-1 RNA was quantified in seminal plasma using a Roche COBAS Ampliprep COBAS TaqMan HIV-1 test.</p><p>Seminal HIV-1 RNA was detected in 23 samples (7.5%) from 17 patients (19.3%). This detection rate was stable over years. With regards to the freezing of two samples delivered at a one-hour interval, the proportion of discordance between the first and second samples was 9.3% (12/129).</p><p>Our results confirm the intermittent shedding of HIV-1 in semen. While this finding has been shown by studies examining longer time intervals, to our knowledge, this has never been demonstrated over such a short time interval.</p></div

Prevalence of detectable seminal plasma samples (dark grey) and of men with at least one detectable spVL (light grey) from 2006 to 2011.

<p>Bars represent the 95% confidence intervals.</p

Characteristics of the 17 patients with at least 1 detectable HIV-1 seminal plasma viral load.

<p>3TC, lamivudine; ATZ, atazanavir; ABC, abacavir; DDI, didanosine; EFV, efivarenz; FTC, emtricitabine; LPV, lopinavir; RTV, ritonavir; TVF, tenofovir; ZDV, zidovudine.</p