PHARMACOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS OF MITOCHONDRIAL DNA ASSAYS

摘要

This invention provides assays to determine the relative amount ofmitochondrial DNA in a subject, such as a subject undergoing drug treatment.The subject may for example be a human patient undergoing treatment for an HIVinfection with a nucleic acid precursor such as a nucleoside or nucleotideanalogue. The assays of the invention may include PCR assays, such semi-quantitative or quantitative PCR involving the co-amplification of amitochondrial sequence and a reference sequence, such as a genomic sequence.Information from such assays may be evaluated to provide a ratio ofmithchondrial DNA to nuclear DNA in the cells of the subject.