New CD4 Assay to Aid HIV Monitoring

A new assay is designed to help resource-poor countries monitor direct CD4 (and CD8) T cells counts in HIV-infected patients faster, more economically, and more easily.

The new assay incorporates proprietary microcapillary cytometry technology to provide equivalent or superior results to established flow cytometry and manual microscopy methods of CD4 enumeration. Called EasyCD4, the system is the product of Guava Technologies, Inc. (Hayward, CA, USA). The system is up to 20 times more affordable, lowering the cost of treatment monitoring in developing countries. Operation is simple, with even novice users learning to use the system in less than a day. Testing requires only 10 ml of reagents and of whole blood, which means less blood is required and less reagent is used, lowering the costs of performing the assay and making it suitable for pediatric use as well as adult use.

The cost of commercially available CD4 diagnostic testing for patient monitoring has remained very high, and access to accurate testing very low. "The absolute CD4 T cell count is an essential measurement used to monitor disease progression in HIV/AIDS patients, to determine the timing of treatment with anti-retroviral drugs, and to monitor a patient's response to treatment,” said Rajen Dalal, CEO of Guava Technologies. The company notes that the assay has been rigorously tested against established methods and proven to be equivalent or superior by several of its collaborators, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, GA, USA).




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