Comparison of cord blood and peripheral blood mononuclear cells as targets for viral isolation and drug sensitivity studies involving human immunodeficiency virus type 1.

We have shown that umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMC) are at least as sensitive as peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) for isolation of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 from the PBMC of infected individuals. Viral replication was more efficiently monitored by a p24 antigen capture assay than by a viral reverse transcriptase test, regardless of whether CBMC or PBMC were employed. We also found that CBMC and PBMC yielded similar results with regard to the susceptibility profiles of both wild-type and drug-resistant variants of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 for 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine, 2',3'-dideoxycytidine, and the (-) enantiomer of 2',3'-dideoxy-3'-thiacytidine. Finally, viruses isolated on CBMC could be routinely grown on PBMC and vice versa.