HCV core antigen and HCV-RNA in HIV/HCV co-infected patients with different HCV genotypes.

Background: A good correlation between HCV core antigen (HCVAg) and different HCV-RNA assays has been described, but little data are available in HCV/HIV co-infection. We aimed to evaluate HCVAg in comparison with HCV-RNA and to determine their kinetics during antiviral treatment in selected HCV/HIV co-infected patients.

Methods: 355 samples from 286 HCV/HIV co-infected subjects for whom HCV-RNA (Abbott RealTime) was requested were analysed also for HCVAg (Abbott ARCHITECT) in order to evaluate the correlation between the two parameters both in patients treated or untreated for chronic hepatitis C and according to different HCV genotypes.

Human case of autochthonous West Nile virus lineage 2 infection in Italy, September 2011.

On 10 September 2011, a patient in his 50s was admitted to hospital in Ancona, Italy, after six days of high fever and no response to antibiotics. West Nile virus (WNV) infection was suspected after tests to determine the aetiology of the fever were inconclusive. On 20 September, WNV-specific IgM and IgG antibodies were detected in the patient’s serum.

Molecular analysis of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in an HIV co-infected patient with reactivation of occult HBV infection following discontinuation of lamivudine-including antiretroviral therapy.

Background: Occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (OBI) is characterized by HBV DNA persistence even though the pattern of serological markers indicates an otherwise resolved HBV infection. Although OBI is usually clinically silent, immunocompromised patients may experience reactivation of the liver disease.

Case Presentation: We report the case of an individual with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and anti-HBV core antibody positivity, who experienced severe HBV reactivation after discontinuation of lamivudine-including antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Hepatitis C virus core antigen: analytical performances, correlation with viremia and potential applications of a quantitative, automated immunoassay.

Background: Testing for hepatitis C virus core antigen (HCV Ag) may represent a complementary tool to anti-HCV and HCV-RNA in the diagnosis and monitoring of HCV infection.

Objective: To evaluate the performance characteristics of the automated Abbott ARCHITECT HCV Ag assay.

Study Design: Five sites analyzed over 3000 routine serum samples from populations at different risk, comparing HCV Ag results with anti-HCV screening and supplemental assay results and with HCV-RNA.

Quantitative HIV-1 proviral DNA detection: a multicentre analysis.

Despite the widespread use of molecular biology techniques, standardized methods for the measurement of HIV-1 proviral DNA are currently lacking and several discordant results are still present in different studies. To assess the clinical meaning of the proviral DNA load, a study group comprising seven different laboratories was set up to standardize a HIV-1 proviral DNA quantification method able to assess the DNA proviral load of the most relevant circulating HIV-1 subtypes. Reference samples (24 cellular samples infected with HIV-1 clade B, and 40 samples of peripheral blood mononuclear cells containing different concentrations of plasmids expressing different HIV-1 clades) were distributed and tested blindly.

Resistance and replicative capacity of HIV-1 strains selected in vivo by long-term enfuvirtide treatment.

Enfuvirtide is the prototype member of a new class of anti HIV-1 agents, the fusion inhibitors (FI). In recent clinical trials, the compound has shown its efficacy in combination with other antiretroviral agents in vivo. However mutant strains resistant to the action of the drug arise quite rapidly in vitro and in vivo.

Distribution and molecular analysis of mef(A)-containing elements in tetracycline-susceptible and -resistant Streptococcus pyogenes clinical isolates with efflux-mediated erythromycin resistance.

Objectives: To analyse the distribution and molecular features of mef(A)-containing elements in a large collection of different Streptococcus pyogenes clinical isolates with efflux-mediated erythromycin resistance. To further characterize a tet(O)-mef(A) element.

Methods: Gene detection was carried out by PCR using primers designed from established sequences or from sequences in this study.

Genotype and phenotype patterns of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 resistance to enfuvirtide during long-term treatment.

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) fusion inhibitor enfuvirtide has recently been introduced into clinical practice and has exhibited efficient anti-HIV-1 activity in combination with other antiretroviral agents. In the present study, we addressed the effect of long-term treatment with enfuvirtide on the intrahost evolution of HIV-1. The genotype and phenotype patterns and the relative replication capacity (rRC) of enfuvirtide-resistant HIV-1 mutants were evaluated in samples from 11 subjects (7 virological nonresponders and 4 responders) who received the compound for more than 1 year in combination with different regimens.

Analysis of the functional relationship between V3 loop and gp120 context with regard to human immunodeficiency virus coreceptor usage using naturally selected sequences and different viral backbones.

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) gp120 V3 loop plays a predominant role in chemokine receptor usage; however, other linear and nonlinear gp120 domains are involved in this step of the HIV-1 replication cycle. At present, the functional relationship between V3 and these domains with regard to coreceptor usage is unclear. To gain insights into the nature of this relationship in naturally selected viral variants, we developed a recombinant strategy based on two different gp120 backbones derived from CXCR4 (X4)- and CCR5 (R5)-tropic viral strains, respectively.

Processivity and drug-dependence of HIV-1 protease: determinants of viral fitness in variants resistant to protease inhibitors.

Objective: To investigate the role of processivity and drug-dependence of HIV-1 protease as fitness determinants in variants resistant to protease inhibitors (PI).

Design And Methods: HIV-1 protease sequences from 32 infected subjects (27 patients who failed PI-treatments and five PI-naive controls) were evaluated using a recombinant method. The HIV-1 phenotype to seven PI was analysed together with the replication capacity of recombinants and the processivity and drug-dependence of the HIV-1 proteases.

Identification of six putative novel human papillomaviruses (HPV) and characterization of candidate HPV type 87.

Six putative novel human papillomavirus (HPV) types were detected by using general primers for a conserved L1 HPV region in patients examined in gynecologic centers. One of the isolates, detected in samples from 4 patients with koilocytic atypia at cervical cytology (3 of whom were also infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1), was completely sequenced, identified as a new HPV genotype, and designated candidate HPV87 (candHPV87) by the Reference Center for Human Papillomavirus. candHPV87 shows the classic HPV genome organization and the absence of a functional E5 coding region.

Quantitative evaluation of the recombinant HIV-1 phenotype to protease inhibitors by a single-step strategy.

Objective: To develop and optimize a fast and quantitative recombinant strategy for evaluating the HIV-1 phenotype to protease inhibitors (PI).

Design And Methods: A non-replicative HIV-1 molecular vector (designated pdelta prodelta env) capable of expressing exogenous HIV-1 protease-encoding sequences was developed in this study. The HIV-1 protease sequences were amplified from either viral isolates or plasma samples (both from 21 HIV-1-infected individuals, 19 of whom were failing different anti-HIV-1 combination treatments) and cloned in the pdelta prodelta env backbone.

Complexity and dynamics of HIV-1 quasispecies.

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope glycoproteins mediate virus entry into target cells by binding receptors of the cell membrane and fusing viral and cellular structures. In particular, recent crystallographic studies have clarified the complex role of the glycoprotein gp120 in the early phase of the infection. In this context the inter- and intra-host variability of the HIV-1 gp120 poses a major problem for the development of effective methods of immunization against this virus.