TY - JOUR TI - Evaluation of the clinical sensitivity for the quantification of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 RNA in plasma: Comparison of the new COBAS TaqMan HIV-1 with three current HIV-RNA assays-LCx HIV RNA quantitative, VERSANT HIV-1 RNA 3.0 (bDNA) and COBAS AMPLICOR HIV-1 Monitor v1.5 AU - Katsoulidou, A AU - Petrodaskalaki, M AU - Sypsa, V AU - Papachristou, E AU - and Anastassopoulou, CG AU - Gargalianos, P AU - Karafoulidou, A and AU - Lazanas, M AU - Kordossis, T AU - Andoniadou, A AU - Hatzakis, A JO - Journal of Virological Methods PY - 2006 VL - 131 TODO - 2 SP - 168-174 PB - ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV SN - 0166-0934 TODO - 10.1016/j.jviromet.2005.07.014 TODO - HIV-1 RNA; viral load; cobas TaqMan; LCx; branched DNA; COBAS amplicor monitor v1.5 TODO - The COBAS TaqMan HIV-1 test (Roche Diagnostics) was compared with the LCx HIV RNA quantitative assay (Abbott Laboratories), the Versant HIV-1 RNA 3.0 (bDNA) assay (Bayer) and the COBAS Amplicor HIV-1 Monitor v1.5 test (Roche Diagnostics), using plasma samples of various viral load levels from HIV-1-infected individuals. In the comparison of TaqMan with LCx, TaqMan identified as positive 77.5% of the 240 samples versus 72.1% identified by LCx assay, while their overall agreement was 94.6% and the quantitative results of samples that were positive by both methods were strongly correlated (r = 0.91). Similarly, in the comparison of TaqMan with bDNA 3.0, both methods identified 76.3% of the 177 samples as positive, while their overall agreement was 95.5% and the quantitative results of samples that were positive by both methods were strongly correlated (r = 0.95). Finally, in the comparison of TaqMan with Monitor v 1.5, TaqMan identified 79.5% of the 156 samples as positive versus 80.1% identified by Monitor v 1.5, while their overall agreement was 95.5% and the quantitative results of samples that were positive by both methods were strongly correlated (r = 0.96). In conclusion, the new COBAS TaqMan HIV-1 test showed excellent agreement with other widely used commercially available tests for the quantitation of HIV-1 viral load. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. ER -