Evaluation of the Roche Cobas TaqMan and Abbott RealTime Extraction-Quantification Systems for HIV-1 Subtypes.

The article compares the Abbott Molecular RealTime to the Roche Diagnostics Cobas Taqman automated nucleic acid extraction and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification systems for their capacity to quantify HIV RNA of various subtypes. The Abbott RealTime system quantified all 29 HIV-1 group M supernatants. The limitation of the real-time PCR to span the entire diversity of HIV must be taken into account during treatment monitoring, resistance studies and clinical trials.