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Persistence of Extraordinarily Low Levels of Genetically Homogeneous Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 in Exposed Seronegative Individuals

Departments of Laboratory Medicine,¹ Microbiology,² and Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington 98195,³ Program in Infectious Diseases, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington 98109⁴

Received 1 July 2002/ Accepted 27 September 2002

Some individuals remain inexplicably seronegative and lack evidence for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection by conventional serologic or virologic testing despite repeated high-risk virus exposures. Here, we examined 10 exposed seronegative (ES) individuals exhibiting HIV-1-specific cytotoxicity for the presence of HIV-1. We discovered HIV-1 DNA in resting CD4⁺ T cells (mean, 0.05 ± 0.01 copies per million cells) at multiple visits spanning 69 to 130 weeks in two ES individuals at levels that were on average 10⁴- to 10⁶-fold lower than those of other HIV-1-infected populations reported. Sequences of HIV-1 envelope and gag genes remained markedly homogeneous, indicating little to undetectable virus replication. These results provide the evidence for HIV-1 infection in ES individuals below the detection limit of standard assays, suggesting that extraordinary control of infection can occur. The two HIV-infected ES individuals remained healthy and were not superinfected with other HIV-1 strains despite continued high-risk sexual exposures to multiple HIV-infected partners. Understanding the mechanisms that confer diminished replicative capacity of HIV-1 in these hosts is paramount to developing strategies for protection against and control of HIV-1 infection.

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