HIV Genotyping: What It Is And How It Is Done?

Before getting a deeper dive into the procedure of HIV Antiretroviral Drug Resistance Testing or HIV Genotypic testing, it’s essential to understand the term “Antiretroviral Therapy (ART)” so that this article may seem more than just a jumbled pile of words to you.

What is Antiretroviral Therapy (ART)? 

Standard Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) is the attempted remediation of HIV. Antiretroviral drugs (also referred to as ARV), when taken in combination (at least three) every day, can suppress the HIV, stop the progression of HIV disease, and reduce the risk of HIV transmission. ART is the medication that treats HIV and not cures or kills this disease.  

The process of HIV treatment involves taking Antiretroviral drugs (ARV) in a combination of three or more from two or more different classes. This is called Combination therapy (cART), also referred to as highly active ART (HAART). The highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) helps prevent the effectiveness of medication i.e., drug resistance.

Combination therapy (cART) and regular testing help keep the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) under control by slowing down the virus's effects on the body.

What is HIV Genotyping? 

Sometimes what happens is even after receiving Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), the HIV viral load (the amount of virus in the blood) doesn’t decrease or rises steadily inside the HIV positive person. So it becomes essential to determine whether the HIV diagnosed person has become resistant to the antiretroviral therapy (ART) or the patient’s virus has mutated in response to treatment. And the multi-step process that is used to view the building blocks of HIV’s genetic material and thus detect the mutations is called HIV Genotyping.

How is HIV Genotyping testing done? 

The HIV Genotyping process begins when researchers extract viral nucleic acid from the patient’s plasma or draw a blood sample from a vein in the patient’s arm to generate a DNA copy. The polymerase chain reaction technique is used to amplify a specific region of the DNA.

The next step involves running the amplified DNA through a series of steps that involve a chemical change of atoms and molecules to reveal nucleotide bases (the sequence of DNA’s basic building blocks).

The next step involves using an electropherogram that shows the sequence of DNA’s basic building blocks in a different color. The order of the bases in the sequence is read by using computer software.

Once the sequence is submitted to an online database, it is then compared with a sequence that doesn’t contain HIV mutations. Finally, doctors or scientists review the report to determine suitable treatment options.

Sentosa SQ HIV Genotyping Assay employs state-of-the-art Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technique to discriminate between the sequences of basic building blocks of DNA. Visit Vela Diagnostics to learn more about its features and benefits.