DETECTION OF PROVIRUS IN THE LYMPHOCYTE D NA - MONITORING OF HIV-INFECTION AT THE GENE LEVEL

The presence of HIV provirus in the cell culture and in the patients' blood was studied by polymerase chain reaction followed by hybridizati on in solution. It was shown that: (i) the hybridized product could be detected both by gel electrophoresis and by binding on hydroxyapatite ; (ii) the detection level achieved was no more than 10 infected lymph ocytes per million; (iii) the hybridization signal and sensitivity of detection could be enhanced by the, transcription of PCR product by th e phage T7 RNA polymerase. The observed lack of complete correlation b etween the amount of provirus and of the p24 antigen in the patients' blood possibly reflects the peculiarities of HIV infection.