Current assays for HIV-1 diagnostics and antiretroviral therapy monitoring: challenges and possibilities

In 2011, there were over 34 million people living with HIV infections, placing a heavy burden on public health sectors. HIV infection is a lifelong threat that cannot be prevented by vaccination or cured by antiretroviral drugs. The infected patients rely on daily antiretroviral therapy to suppress HIV viral replication. Hence, it is important to diagnose HIV infections as early as possible and to monitor the efficacy of antiretroviral therapy every 3–6 months. Different immunoassays detecting HIV antigens and antibodies have been modified to offer better sensitivity and more rapid diagnosis. Several clinical and virological parameters, including CD4+ cell counts, viral load and drug resistance mutations, are also used for treatment monitoring. Many molecular assay optimizations are now being utilized to improve patient care. This review will focus on the most updated HIV diagnostic assays, as well as discussing the upcoming possibilities of other advanced technologies.postprin

Molecular epidemiology and phylogenetic analysis of minor HIV-1 subtypes in Hong Kong: Emergence and spread of CRF07_BC and subtype C

Paper Poster Session 3 - HIV/AIDS: PO552OBJECTIVES: HIV-1 subtype B and CRF01_AE are the pre-dominant strains in Hong Kong. A noticeable increase in non-B and non-AE infections has been observed in recent years. This study aimed to conduct a molecular epidemiological and phylogenetic analysis on CRF07_BC and subtype C to illustrate their transmission and spread in our locality. METHODS: HIV-1 partial pol sequences were available from a routine antiretroviral ...postprin

Determination of the High Prevalence of Dual/Mixed- or X4-Tropism Among HIV Type 1 CRF01_AE in Hong Kong by Genotyping and Phenotyping Methods

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In-house human immunodeficiency virus-1 genotype resistance testing to determine highly active antiretroviral therapy resistance mutations in Hong Kong

Objective To determine the frequency of highly active antiretroviral therapy resistance mutations in the viral pol gene of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) genotypes that circulate in Hong Kong, by means of an in-house HIV-1 genotyping system. Design Retrospective study. Setting Two HIV clinics in Hong Kong. Patients A modified in-house genotyping resistance test was used to sequence the partial pol gene in 1165 plasma samples from 965 patients. The performance of our test was cross-compared with the US Food and Drug Administration-approved ViroSeq HIV-1 genotyping system. The results of genotyping were submitted to the Stanford HIV-1 drug resistance database for analysis. Results The cost-effective in-house genotypic resistance test (US$40) demonstrated comparable performance to the US Food and Drug Administration-approved ViroSeq system. The detection limit of this in-house genotypic resistance test could reach 400 copies/mL for both HIV-1 subtype B and CRF01_AE, which were the predominant genotypes in Hong Kong. Drug resistance mutations were detected only in post-treatment samples from treatment-failure patients. However, there was no significant difference in the frequency of drug resistance mutations between subtype B and CRF01_AE. Conclusion Our cost-effective in-house genotypic resistance test detected no significant difference in drug resistance-related mutations frequencies between HIV-1 subtype B and CRF01_AE in Hong Kong. A drug resistance-related mutations database for different HIV-1 genotypes should be established in Hong Kong to augment guidance for HIV treatment.published_or_final_versio

Pharmacogenetic screening: HLA-B5701 vs. CYP2B6 G516T

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Comparative genomic analysis of two clonally related multidrug resistant mycobacterium tuberculosis by single molecule real time sequencing

2017-2018 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journal201812 bcrcVersion of RecordPublishe

Performance evaluation of the verigene gram-positive and gram-negative blood culture test for direct identification of bacteria and their resistance determinants from positive blood cultures in Hong Kong

2015-2016 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journal201810_a bcmaVersion of RecordPublishe

Farnesoid X receptor alpha: a molecular link between bile acids and steroid signaling?

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