Detection of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in platelets exposed to the virus: evaluation of polymorphism HPA-1, -3 and -5.

• Grant number: 12/03529-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2012
• End date: December 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biology
• Principal Investigator: Maria Inês de Moura Campos Pardini
• Grantee: Natália Mirele Cantao
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FMB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

AIDS is a syndrome caused by infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which has as main receptor for entry into the target cell the CD4 molecule and as co-receptor CCR5 and/or CXCR4. Studies have known that HIV also has the ability to infect cells and CD4 negative particulates, such as platelets. Since they don't have the main viral entry receptor, other molecules are candidates for platelet-virus interaction such as adhesion molecules and these have been associated with the entry of other viruses into their target cells. The adhesion molecules are anchored to platelet membrane, which have antigenic determinants known as Human Platelet Antigen (HPA). These are polymorphic and have been increasingly associated with viral infections. Thus, this study aims is to evaluate the presence of viral RNA associated with platelets from patients not infected with HIV, but exposed to the virus in vitro, and correlate the polymorphism of the HPA system -1, -3 and -5 with the concentration of viral RNA in the platelets of the same group of patients. Platelets are used obtained from peripheral blood volunteer donors 50 uninfected, which will be exposed to the virus in vitro. The analysis of polymorphism of HPA will be performed by PCR-SSP and PCR-RFLP. Viral RNA in platelets is quantified by the Branched-DNA methodology.