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Evaluation of an ultrasensitive p24 antigen assay as a potential alternative to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 RNA viral load assay in resource-limited settings.

Respess RA, Cachafeiro A, Withum D, Fiscus SA, Newman D, Branson B, Varnier OE, Lewis K, Dondero TJ

Global AIDS Program, National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd., Mail Stop A-12, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA. rrespess@cdc.gov

An inexpensive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 quantitation, ultrasensitive p24 antigen assay (Up24), was compared with RNA viral load assay (VL). Up24 had 100% sensitivity of detection at a viral load of >/=30,000, with sensitivity of 46.4% at a viral load of <30,000 (232 specimens from 65 seropositive subjects). The assay was highly reproducible, with excellent correlation between duplicates and among three laboratories.

Published 6 January 2005 in J Clin Microbiol, 43(1): 506-8.
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