Background: The residual risk of HIV infection after HIV screening tests in combination with the risk of new emerging pathogens entering the blood supply has sparked research on the development of a technology for reduction of pathogens in RBCs.
Study design and methods: HIV-1 was treated with PEN110 (INACTINE) and analyzed for the kinetics of virus reduction in RBC, the effect of PEN110 on nucleic acids, the integrity of the virus morphology and viral proteins, and the ability of the virus to bind HIV cell receptors and enter susceptible cells.
Results: PEN110 effectively reduced HIV-1 to the limit of detection for a reduction factor of at least 5.57 log 50 percent tissue culture infectious dose per bulk test. The PEN110-treated virions maintained their morphology, protein integrity, and functionality. However, the PEN110-treated HIV-1 RNA genome was neither functional to serve as a template for RT-PCR amplification of about 1 kb nor able to support viral DNA synthesis in cell culture.
Conclusion: These results suggest that PEN110 inactivates HIV-1 by targeting the viral nucleic acid.