INVESTIGATION OF SAFER TEST TUBES FOR LABORATORY USE

THE OVERALL GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP NEW EVACUATED TEST TUBES FOR BLOOD COLLECTION CONTAINING HIV NEUTRALIZATION AGENT(S) TO REDUCE AND/OR ELIMINATE THE RISK OF CONTRACTING HIV BY HEALTH CARE WORKERS HANDLING PATIENT SPECIMENS WITHOUT COMPROMISING TEST RESULTS. THE SPECIFIC GOAL OF PHASE I OF THIS PROJECT IS TO EVALUATE THE ANTI-HIV-1 EFFECTS OF THE NEUTRALIZING AGENTS, (HNA-2) AND/OR (HNA-3) AT DIFFERENT CONCENTRATIONS ON SEVERAL HIV-1 ISOLATES IN WHOLE BLOOD. KNOWN CONCENTRATIONS OF HIV-1 ISOLATES WILL BE ADDED TO BLOOD, AND THEN HNA-2 AND/OR HNA-3 AT DIFFERENT CONCENTRATIONS WILL BE ADDED. BLOOD SAMPLES WILL BE CULTURED IN SUPT1 AND JURKAT CELLS (CONTINUOUS T CELL LINES WITH A HIGH EXPRESSION OF CD4) FOR 30 DAYS. THE CELL CULTURE VIABILITY WILL BE EXAMINED BY STUDIES OF GROWTH KINETICS AND VITAL STAINING WITH TRYPAN BLUE AT DIFFERENT TIME POINTS. WEEKLY VIRAL PRODUCTION WILL BE MONITORED BY SYNCYTIUM FORMATION, DETECTION OF P24 VIRAL CAPSID PROTEIN, AND DETECTION OF PROVIRAL DNA BY POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION (PCR). FURTHERMORE, THE STABILITY OF THE NEUTRALIZING AGENT(S) IN TEST TUBES AT ROOM TEMPERATURE AND THEIR EFFECTS ON DIFFERENT HIV-1 MARKER SCREENING TESTS WILL BE EVALUATED. THE NEW TECHNOLOGY, IF SUCCESSFUL, WILL EVENTUALLY REPLACE THE EXISTING TEST TUBES AND WILL PROVIDE AN ADDITIONAL SAFETY TOOL TO REDUCE THE RISK OF CONTRACTING HIV FROM HANDLING PATIENT SPECIMENS. THIS CAN BE DONE AT A RELATIVELY COMPETITIVE PRICE.