Endocytosis-mediated HIV-1 entry and its significance in the elusive behavior of the virus in astrocytes.

Astrocytes protect neurons but also evoke a proinflammatory response to injury and viral infections including HIV. We investigated the mechanism of HIV-1 infection in primary astrocytes, which showed minimal but productive viral infection independent of CXCR4. As with ectopic-CD4-expressing astrocytes, lysosomotropic agents led to increased HIV-1 infection in wild-type but not Rabs 5, 7, and 11-ablated astrocytes.

Performance of a rapid immunochromatographic screening test for detection of antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and HIV-2: experience at a tertiary care hospital in South India.

The performance characteristics of a rapid immunochromatographic-screening test, SD Bioline HIV-1/2 3.0 (Standard Diagnostics Inc., Kyonggi-do, South Korea) on 23,754 sera and 30 plasma samples are reported.