Ultrasensitive viral load measurements.

Shown are the real time PCR viral RNA measurements of pooled plasma samples (two pooled samples per measurement; total plasma volume 6 mL; detection limit = 3 RNA copies/mL). The time points selected for the analyses are shown as days from the zero point adopted in figures 2, 4 and 8. In these time points, the macaques were under H-iART (unmarked), or off-treatment after therapy suspension (marked with “§”). As a control of the assay variability and to exclude PCR inhibition, spiked RNA measurements for each plasma sample are shown. The RNA copy numbers (in copies/mL) used for the spiked measurements were: * 8686; ** 8605; *** 34. The low copy number spike was chosen to double-check the absence of low-level viremia in macaque BD69 that was the only one showing detectable viral RNA during the first PCR run.