a method is provided for detecting a presence of HIV
virus in a sample comprising: taking a culture of recombinant cells which (a) are capable of
cell division, (b) express CD4
receptor and one or more additional
cell surface receptors necessary to allow the HIV
virus to infect, (c) enable the HIV
virus to replicate and infect the noninfected cells in the
cell culture, and (d) comprise a reporter sequence introduced into the recombinant cells comprising a
reporter gene whose expression is regulated by a
protein specific to HIV viruses which is expressed from a
genome of an HIV virus upon infection of the recombinant cell by the HIV virus; contacting the
cell culture with a sample to be analyzed for the presence of HIV virus in the sample; and detecting a change in a level of expression of the
reporter gene in cells in the recombinant
cell culture. The method can be used to detect the presence of HIV virus in a sample, detect the presence of different strains of HIV virus in a sample, detect HIV
drug resistance in a sample, determine what combination of one or more anti-HIV agents would be effective in treating a patient, and screen compositions for anti-HIV activity.