Inactivation and viral load quantitation of human immunodeficiency virus in blood collected into Cyto-Chex® BCT blood collection device

•We investigated the effect of Cyto-Chex® BCT reagent on HIV inactivation and stability in blood at room temperature.•Cyto-Chex® BCT inactivated HIV in blood within 2h and stabilized HIV for 7 days at room temperature compared to ACD tubes. A blood collection tube (Cyto-Chex® BCT), which can stabilize white blood cells and immunogenic markers in blood samples, was investigated for its ability to inactivate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and stabilize HIV for viral load quantitation. Laboratory-adapted HIV strains were either treated or untreated with the stabilizing reagent present in Cyto-Chex® BCT. A dilution of the reagent used to treat virus was 1:66, which was similar to the reagent concentration in Cyto-Chex® BCT device when blood was drawn into it. In another experiment, blood was drawn from HIV patients into one acid citrate dextrose (ACD) tube and one Cyto-Chex® BCT. At indicated time points, aliquots were taken of treated and untreated viral dilutions and from plasma of HIV-positive patient blood samples and analyzed using reverse transcriptase and TZM-bl cell assays to determine HIV inactivation. In laboratory-adapted HIV strains and HIV-positive patient plasma, HIV was completely inactivated within 2 and 3h of contact with a 1:66 dilution of Cyto-Chex reagent, respectively. Samples from HIV-positive patient plasma showed that viral load was stable in Cyto-Chex® BCT for 7 days at room temperature. Therefore, it is concluded that the chemical reagent present in the Cyto-Chex® BCT blood collection device is capable of complete inhibition of HIV infectivity in blood samples within 3h and stabilizing the viral load for 7 days at room temperature.