METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING THE TROPISM OF THE HIV VIRUS

摘要

The present invention relates to a method for identifying the tropism of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in patients infected with said virus. The method includes joint culture of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of a patient infected with HIV and PBMCs of a healthy control subject, in which the CD8-positive PBMC cells of the patient infected with HIV and/or of the healthy control subject are depleted. The virions released into the culture medium are inoculated by spinoculation to a human cell line isolated from the human body, which is CD4-positive and expresses the CCR5 co-receptor (CD4+/CCR5+/CXCR4-) and to a human cell line isolated from the human body, which is CD4-positive and expresses the CXCR4 co-receptor (CD4+/CCR5-/CXCR4+). Said method makes it possible to determine the viral tropism by quantifying the proportion of viral quasi-species that use one co-receptor or another.