Researchers at Georgia Tech, Emory University School of Medicine, and Yerkes National Primate Research Center have created a way to visualize the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) replication process in real time and in vivo. By using a technique called immunoPET, or antibody-targeted positron emission tomography, in conjunction with the 64Cu-labeled SIV Gp120–specific antibody, the group was able to see where exactly the SIV was inside the monkeys. Surprisingly, the virus was found replicating in parts of the body such as nasal tissue and reproductive organs.
The study demonstrates that this technique is able to see the viral dynamics such as acute infection during antiretroviral therapy and when antiretroviral therapy is not administered. The researchers believe that this technique can be used in the future on human subjects with HIV. Furthermore, this imaging method can also potentially be used to visualize other pathogens and diseases, which will allow doctors and scientists to determine how viruses or other microbes respond to certain therapies and where they congregate in the body. Currently, the researchers are refining the contrast and uptake of this technique.
Study in Nature Methods: Whole-body immunoPET reveals active SIV dynamics in viremic and antiretroviral therapy-treated macaques…
Georgia Institute of Technology: Novel tool captures total body SIV replication…