Based on the quantitative results of total deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with HIV-1 infection, transcriptional activity of HIV was distinguished.

Blood samples and separate PBMCs from healthy persons and HIV-1 infectors were collected from October 2017 to December 2018 in the Department of Infectious Diseases, the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, PCR fluorescent probe method was applied to detect quantitative total DNA and RNA of HIV-1 in PBMCs, and the ratio values between them were calculated. According to ratio values, HIV-1 active transcription group and relatively inactive group were screened. In addition, PBMCs samples from healthy people were selected as controls. Gene transcriptome expression profile detection and populational characteristics difference were performed among the three groups, and principal component analysis was performed on the gene expression profiles among the three groups to verify the accuracy of distinguishing intracellular viral transcriptional activity.

The HIV-1 active group samples (10 cases) and the relatively inactive group samples (11 cases) were screened form PBMCs samples of 60 HIV-1 infectors, and the PBMCs samples from 6 healthy people were selected as control group. The ratio value in active transcription group was 165.2-738.93, the mean and standard deviation was (339.27 ± 189.68). In relatively inactive group, the ratio value was 4.67-42.39, the mean and standard deviation was (17.65 ± 11.78). There were statistically significant differences in CD4⁺ T counts (P = 0.049) and ratio values (P < 0.001) between the active transcription group and the relatively inactive group; there were no significant differences in age (P = 0.989) and gender (P = 0.650) distribution among the three groups. The principal component analysis results of gene expression profiles of PBMCs samples from the three groups showed that there was a clear difference between healthy people and HIV-1 infectors (active ranscription and relatively inactive groups), but some samples overlapped between the active ranscription group and the relatively inactive group. When CD4⁺ T lymphocyte count of HIV-1 infectors was the same as healthy people, the state of gene expression within infected cells is similar to that of healthy people.

The ratio value of quantitative detection results of total DNA and RNA of HIV-1 could better distinguish the intracellular viral transcriptional activity. Differently transcriptional activation status of virus in infected cells could lead to intracellular heterogeneity of gene expression profile.