Table 1.

Studies detecting HIV-1 infection and latency in CD4⁺ T cells and MSCs

Technique	Purpose	Target	Technique used on activated cells*?	Relevant studies using CD4+ T cells to establish techniques	Relevant studies using MSCs (Papers discussed in this review)
PCR	Presence of viral DNA in cells exposed to HIV-1	HIV-1 specific DNA such as gag	No		BM-MSCs: [100] Vessel wall-derived MSCs: [101] Adipose cells/preadipocytes: [32] BM-derived stromal cells: [102, 103]
qPCR	Genomic integration of HIV-1 into the host genome	Conserved genomic regions of HIV-1 DNA, including pol, gag, tat and/or episomal 2-LTR circles	No	[104–110]	ASCs: [111]
ddPCR		Conserved genomic regions of HIV-1 DNA, including pol and gag, and/or episomal 2-LTR circles	No	[112–114]
Nested qPCR		Alu elements in the human genome and HIV-1 gag and/or LTR DNA regions	No	[92, 115, 116]	Vessel wall-derived MSCs: [101] BM-MSCs: [117]
Q4PCR		HIV-1 packaging signal, gag, pol, and env DNA regions	No	[93]
ELISA (conventional and digital)	Productive infection	p24	No	[118–121]	BM-MSCs: [117, 122] Vessel wall-derived MSCs: [101] ASCs: [111] Adipose cells/preadipocytes: [32] BM-derived stromal cells: [102, 103, 123]
TILDA		Tat and rev multiply spliced RNA	Yes or no	[96]
	Latent infection
FLIPS		Full-length HIV-1 genomic DNA	No	[124]
qVOA and ELISA		p24	Yes	[125–128]

*Activated with latency reversal agents, such as PHA and PMA

Abbreviations: ASCs Adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal/stem cells, (BM)-MSCs (Bone marrow-derived) mesenchymal stromal/stem cells, ddPCR digital droplet polymerase chain reaction, DNA deoxyribonucleic acid, ELISA enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, env HIV-1 envelope protein, FLIPS full-length individual proviral sequencing, gag HIV-1 group specific antigen, LTR long terminal repeat, MSCs mesenchymal stromal/stem cells, PHA phytohaemagglutinin A, PMA phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, pol HIV-1 polymerase, PCR polymerase chain reaction, qPCR quantitative PCR, Q4PCR combined quadruplex qPCR, qVOA quantitative viral outgrowth assay, rev HIV-1 response element protein, RNA ribonucleic acid, tat HIV-1 transactivating protein, TILDA Tat/rev induced limiting dilution assay