A method is provided for detecting a presence of HIV virus in a sample comprising:
taking a culture of recombinant cells which (a) are capable of cell division, (b)
express CD4 receptor and one or more additional cell surface receptors necessary
to allow the HIV virus to infect, (c) enable the HIV virus to replicate and infect
the noninfected cells in the cell culture, and (d) comprise a reporter sequence
introduced into the recombinant cells comprising a reporter gene whose expression
is regulated by a protein specific to HIV viruses which is expressed from a genome
of an HIV virus upon infection of the recombinant cell by the HIV virus; contacting
the cell culture with a sample to be analyzed for the presence of HIV virus in
the sample; and detecting a change in a level of expression of the reporter gene
in cells in the recombinant cell culture. The method can be used to detect the
presence of HIV virus in a sample, detect the presence of different strains of
HIV virus in a sample, detect HIV drug resistance in a sample, determine what combination
of one or more anti-HIV agents would be effective in treating a patient, and screen
compositions for anti-HIV activity.
