The new 4th generation rapid HIV diagnostic test - Determine® HIV 1/2 Ag/Ab Combo - from Inverness Medical is capable of detecting HIV infection several days earlier than HIV antibody only tests and is ideal to help diagnose and screen for early HIV infection. The ability of this test to enhance the diagnosis of those with acute HIV infection will provide additional benefits in HIV prevention programs and ultimately contribute to a reduction in the spread of HIV. Inverness Medical will be showcasing the new Determine Combo test at the International AIDS Society Conference 2009 in Capetown, South Africa, 19-22 July on stand #203.

Determine HIV-1/2 Ag/Ab Combo enables simultaneous separate detection of HIV p24 antigen (Ag) and antibodies (Ab) for HIV-1 and HIV-2 in human serum, plasma, or whole blood. The p24 antigen is produced during the first few weeks of HIV infection and is detectable 7-9 days earlier than the appearance of HIV antibodies. As a result, the p24 antigen is an ideal marker in aiding early HIV diagnosis.

By simultaneously detecting for all known sub types of HIV and HIV-1 p24 antigen, as a CE marked test, Determine HIV-1/2 Ag/Ab Combo increases the ability to detect and diagnose primary HIV infection (2-20 days earlier than HIV antibody only tests, with an average mean of 5 days) and can help healthcare workers across the world diagnose primary infection, prevent mother to child transmission, monitor HIV prevalence and screen blood donations. By understanding their HIV status, individuals are able to gain early access to specific treatment, care and counselling, prevent transmission, and plan for the future.

The first test of its kind for acute HIV infection, Determine HIV 1/2 Ag/Ab Combo provides clear visual results during the patient visit in 20 minutes, with excellent sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 99.23% and 99.66% for HIV antibodies and HIV-1 p24 antigen respectively. The easy to use, robust format of Determine does not require electricity, water, or the use of bulky laboratory equipment and can be performed in point-of-care settings and remote locations in developing countries where laboratory facilities are limited. This gives significant advantages over lab-based EIA and ELISA 4th generation HIV testing.

For more information about Determine HIV-1/2 Ag/Ab Combo, visit Inverness Medical on stand #203 at the IAS Conference 2009.

Source
Inverness Medical

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes of Virology and Immunology (GIVI) have found another clue that may lead to eradication of HIV from infected patients who have been on antiretroviral therapy. A real cure for HIV has been elusive because the virus can “hide” in a latent form in resting CD4-T cells. By understanding this “latency” effect, researchers can identify ways to reactivate the virus and enable complete clearance by current or future therapies.

Researchers in the laboratory of GIVI Associate Director Eric Verdin, MD have found that methylation of cytosine in the DNA of infected cells is associated with HIV latency and that inhibition of DNA methylation causes the reactivation of latent HIV. These observations offer a potential new strategy for inhibiting HIV latency and reactivating the virus. The discovery was reported in the current edition of PLoS Pathogens.

“While HIV-1 latency is likely to be a multifactorial process, we have shown that inhibiting the methylation of the provirus contributes to an almost complete reactivation of latent HIV-1,” said lead author Steven E. Kauder.

The research team, which also included scientists from the University of Utah and Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute, developed in vitro models of HIV-1 latency in T cells that harbor a full-length HIV genome. The provirus in the cell lines also encoded a fluorescent marker to illuminate HIV-1 transcriptional activity.

In addition to finding that DNA methylation is a mechanism of latency, the scientists also discovered that a host protein, called methlyl-CpG binding domain protein 2 (MBD2) binds to the methylated HIV DNA and is an important mediator of latency.

“Interfering with methylation greatly potentiates the reactivation of HIV,” Kauder said. In this study, the researchers found that the drug 5-aza-2′deoxycytidine (aza-CdR) can inhibit HIV methylation and cause the virus to reactivate.

“Combined with other areas of our investigation into HIV latency, this research provides important new knowledge about the process and opens many new pathways for future study,” said Dr. Verdin, senior author of the study.

The research team included Alberto Bosque and Vicente Planelles of the University of Utah and Annica Lindqvist of Karolinska University. The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health

Eric Verdin’s primary affiliation is with the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, where his laboratory is located and all his research is conducted. He is also professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

Source:
Valerie Tucker
Gladstone Institutes

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Many people who test positive for HIV are diagnosed late in the course of their infection when treatment might be less effective, according to a report published Thursday in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Reuters Health reports. The report looked at data on people who were diagnosed with HIV from 1996 to 2005 and found that 45 percent had developed AIDS within three years of their initial HIV diagnosis, 38.3 percent within one year and an additional 6.7 percent within the next two years (Reuters Health 6/25). R. Luke Shouse of CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention in the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, said, “This means that they may have unknowingly transmitted HIV. It also means that there is a time when they had HIV when they were not under appropriate medical care, so there are missed opportunities for prevention and care.” A separate CDC report also published yesterday found that 22.3 percent of high school students who are sexually active and 12.9 percent of all students have been tested for HIV (Reinberg, HealthDay/KATC.com, 6/25).

This information was reprinted from dailyreports.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily U.S. HIV/AIDS Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at dailyreports.kff.org.

© Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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The Miami-Dade County Department of Health on Thursday launched a campaign called “Test Miami,” which is designed to educate physicians, at-risk communities and pregnant women on the importance of routine HIV testing, the Miami Herald reports. ”A major emphasis of the campaign is to train and educate physicians, particularly in hospitals and other medical facilities,” Evelyn Ullah, director of the Office of HIV and AIDS in Miami, said. As part of the campaign, over the next year, four area physicians will appear in advertisements and speak at forums to encourage medical providers to offer routine HIV testing. Florida is one of the states hardest hit by HIV/AIDS (Montes-Delgado, Miami Herald, 6/26). Separately, nonprofit groups and public health departments in Southwest Florida are offering free HIV testing as part of National HIV Testing Day (Freeman, Naples Daily News, 6/25).

This information was reprinted from dailyreports.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily U.S. HIV/AIDS Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at dailyreports.kff.org.

© Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.