QUANTITATIVE VIRAL OUTGROWTH ASSAY (QVOA) SERVICE RESOURCE

使用高效抗逆转录病毒疗法（HAART）可以有效地抑制HIV感染患者中的HIV-1复制。然而，尽管有有效的抑制疗法，但已知HIV以潜伏状态存在，其中最具特征的潜伏储库是静息记忆CD 4 + T细胞。这些休眠细胞在细胞活化后其休眠状态逆转时产生HIV。为了治愈艾滋病毒疾病，需要查明和消除艾滋病毒的潜在储存库。 为了评估这些策略在清除潜伏库方面的有效性，能够定量潜伏HIV的可重复测定是至关重要的。目前最具特征的检测是QVOA（定量病毒生长检测），也称为IUPM检测（每百万感染单位），在逆转潜伏期和诱导HIV复制的条件下对高度纯化的静息CD 4 + T细胞进行检测。然而，QVOA测量需要大量的血液，是昂贵的，繁琐的，劳动密集型的，因此不是许多实验室进行HIV根除研究的首选测定。 NIAID要求将QVOA作为一项服务提供给HIV研究界。这项服务将允许标准化的QVOA测量，以便实现不同根除策略之间的无偏比较。广泛使用该检测方法将提高潜伏性艾滋病毒检测的标准，并减少目前一些实验室使用的替代、不太准确的检测方法的需求。

HIV-1 replication can be effectively suppressed in HIV infected patients using highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). However, despite effective suppressive therapy, HIV has been known to exist in a state of latency, with the best characterized latent reservoir being the resting memory CD4+ T cells. These resting cells produce HIV when their resting state is reversed following cellular activation. To achieve a cure for HIV disease, the latent reservoir of HIV needs to be identified and eliminated. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies at clearing the latent reservoir, a reproducible assay capable of quantifying latent HIV is crucial. The best characterized assay today is the QVOA (Quantitative Viral Outgrowth Assay), also known as IUPM assay (Infectious Units Per Million) performed on highly purified resting CD4+ T cells under conditions that reverse latency and induce replication of HIV. However, QVOA measurements require large volumes of blood, are expensive, tedious, and labor intensive and therefore not the assay of choice for many laboratories conducting HIV eradication research. NIAID has a requirement to provide the QVOA as a service to the HIV research community. This service will allow standardized QVOA measurements so that unbiased comparisons between different eradication strategies can be achieved. Widespread use of the assay will raise the standards for latent HIV detection and reduce the need for surrogate, less accurate assays, presently used by some laboratories.