Preliminary studies of photoinactivation of human immunodeficiency virus in blood.

The transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by blood or blood components is a major concern in blood banking. A photodynamic flow cell system was designed to inactivate cell-free HIV mixed with blood from a healthy donor. Blood containing 4 x 10(3) infectious units of HIV was treated with 10 and 20 micrograms per mL of commercially available dihematoporphyrin ether (DHE) per mL. Aliquots of this mixture were then held in the dark or irradiated in a flow cell illuminated at a light energy density of 5 J per cm2 provided by a xenon light source equipped with a 630 +/- 5 nm band-pass interference filter; the aliquots were subsequently placed in A.301 cells. All infected cultures were assessed for reverse transcriptase (RT) activity for 17 days. RT activity for either concentration of dye was significantly reduced in irradiated samples as compared to that in samples held in the dark. Blood samples from volunteers also were assessed for the effects of the inactivation process on red cells at concentrations of DHE up to 200 micrograms per mL. No effects were observed on red cell 2,3 DPG or ATP, whole blood potassium concentrations, red cell osmotic fragility, or blood cell antigens.