Assessment of gag DNA and Genomic RNA in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells in HIV-Infected Patients Receiving Intervention with a Recombinant gp160 Subunit Vaccine in a Phase I Study

A direct, quantitative polymerase chain reaction PCR assay was employed to measure the levels of gag DNA and geonomic RNA in cryopreserved patient peripheral blood mononuclear cells PBMC. This technique was used to determine the viral load over the initial 702 day period range 492-812 days in 26 of the volunteer recipients of a recombinant gp 160 vaccine in a Phase I safety trail. We observed no statistically significant alterations in viral load over the study period. In addition, the assessment at multiple time points post immunization, of the first three patients to enter the Phase I trial revealed no statistically significant relationship between immunization and viral load.