Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
PLoS One. 2011;6(8):e23654. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0023654. Epub 2011 Aug 19.
The blood HIV RNA viral load is the best-defined predictor of HIV transmission, in part due to ease of measurement and the correlation of blood and genital tract (semen or cervico-vaginal) viral load, although recent studies found semen HIV RNA concentration to be a stronger predictor of HIV transmission. There is currently no standardized method for semen collection when measuring HIV RNA concentration. Therefore, we compared two collection techniques in order to study of the impact of antiretroviral therapy on the semen viral load.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Semen was collected by masturbation from HIV-infected, therapy-naïve men who have sex with men (MSM) either undiluted (Visit 1) or directly into transport medium (Visit 2). Seminal plasma was then isolated, and the HIV RNA concentration obtained with each collection technique was measured and corrected for dilution if necessary. Collection of semen directly into transport medium resulted in a median HIV RNA viral load that was 0.4 log10 higher than undiluted samples.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The method of semen collection is an important consideration when quantifying the HIV RNA viral load in this compartment.
血液 HIV RNA 病毒载量是 HIV 传播的最佳预测指标，部分原因是其测量方便，且与血液和生殖道（精液或宫颈阴道）病毒载量相关，尽管最近的研究发现精液中的 HIV RNA 浓度是 HIV 传播的更强预测指标。目前，在测量 HIV RNA 浓度时，还没有标准化的精液采集方法。因此，我们比较了两种采集技术，以研究抗逆转录病毒治疗对精液病毒载量的影响。
方法/主要发现：通过手淫从未接受过治疗、与男性发生性行为的 HIV 感染男性（MSM）中采集精液，要么不稀释（第 1 次就诊），要么直接放入运输介质中（第 2 次就诊）。然后分离精液中的精浆，并测量每种采集技术获得的 HIV RNA 浓度，如果需要则进行稀释校正。直接将精液放入运输介质中采集，导致 HIV RNA 病毒载量中位数比未稀释样本高 0.4 log10。
结论/意义：在定量分析这个部位的 HIV RNA 病毒载量时，精液采集方法是一个重要的考虑因素。
