RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 HIV-1 detection by nested PCR and viral culture in fresh or cryopreserved postmortem skin: potential implications for skin handling and allografting.
JF Journal of Clinical Pathology
JO J Clin Pathol
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Association of Clinical Pathologists
SP 481
OP 484
DO 10.1136/jcp.50.6.481
VO 50
IS 6
A1 J L Gala
A1 A T Vandenbroucke
A1 B Vandercam
A1 J P Pirnay
A1 N Delferrière
A1 G Burtonboy
YR 1997
UL http://jcp.bmj.com/content/50/6/481.abstract
AB AIMS: To date, the risk relating to the handling or allografting of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infected postmortem skin remains hypothetical. While blood screening for HIV antibodies is still the key safety procedure to detect HIV infected cadavers, false negative results are a concern. Conversely, false positive results may hamper the collection of skin allografts. Accordingly, viral culture was used to clarify skin infectivity and the nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to assess the reliability of skin PCR testing. METHODS: Viral culture and nested PCR performed with gag and pol specific primers were investigated in cadaveric skin and blood from 12 HIV-1 infected patients. Samples were collected repeatedly between one and five days in seven patients. In most cases, analyses were performed on triplicate skin samples: fresh (n = 26); cryopreserved in 5% dimethylsulphoxide (n = 21), or cryopreserved in 30% glycerol (n = 26). RESULTS: HIV was isolated in two of 26 cultures of fresh skin specimens (8%), seven of 47 cryopreserved skin specimens (15%), and eight of 26 blood specimens (31%). The nested PCR detected HIV-1 in all skin samples (n = 73), regardless of the postmortem interval or cryopreservation. In blood, a positive signal was found in eight of 12 patients but two of them had discordant results on successive samples. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that nested PCR on postmortem skin samples can detect HIV more reliably than on blood. They also demonstrate the potential viral infectivity of fresh or stored skin postmortem samples in HIV infected patients. They underscore the need for caution during the handling of skin tissue from HIV infected cadavers and confirm the potential risk related to accidental allografting of HIV contaminated skin.