Census and Analysis of Persistent False-Negative Results in Serological Diagnosis of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Group O Infections

Abstract

Human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV

Performance of the Liaison XL Murex HIV Ab/Ag Test on Clinical Samples Representing Current Epidemic HIV Variants

“…Nonetheless, HIV-1 group O samples and group M samples showed distinct reactivities (means, 35.4 and 96.4, respectively) in Liaison XL HIV. These differences probably emphasize the higher intragroup antigenic diversity of group O than of group M within the immunodominant epitope region of the envelope protein (which serves as a target for detection) (4,17). Alternatively, these differences may be due to a low abundance of antibodies produced by these patients, although this aspect needs to be explored.…”

“…First-, second-, and third-generations assays, which detect only antibodies against HIV, lack the sensitivity to detect primary infections and may fail to detect recent non-B subtype infections or divergent variants (1,4). Fourth-generation tests, which detect antibodies against both the virus and the viral antigen p24, are now recommended in France and elsewhere (5,6) due to their great potential for detecting early infections.…”

Clinical Evaluation of BioPlex 2200 HIV Ag-Ab, an Automated Screening Method Providing Discrete Detection of HIV-1 p24 Antigen, HIV-1 Antibody, and HIV-2 Antibody

“…These strains also display marked intragroup genetic diversity (16). This genetic diversity has important implications for diagnosis and monitoring of HIV-O infection, including risks of false negativity and viral load underestimations (17)(18)(19).…”

HIV-1 Diversity and Its Implications in Diagnosis, Transmission, Disease Progression, and Antiretroviral Therapy

“…However, some fourth-generation assays showed low sensitivity in the detection of p24 antigen from some non-subtype B HIV-1 strains (A, C, F, H, CRF01_AE, O) (Kwon et al, 2006;Ly et al, 2007;Ly et al, 2004;Ly et al, 2001;Weber, 2002). This low sensitivity in antigen detection may be attributed to differences in viral epitopes of the different HIV genetic forms which may not be recognized by the monoclonal antibody used in the assay (Plantier et al, 2009a). (Fiebig et al, 2003).…”

“…This ultimately led to incorporation of group O specific antigens and/or peptides into the assays to improve detection of group O infections (van Binsbergen et al, 1996). Nonetheless, false-negative results continue to be reported for some patients infected with HIV-1 group O (Henquell et al, 2008;Plantier et al, 2009a;Zouhair et al, 2006).…”