Q4ddPCR (May the Fourth Be Precise): A Flexible, 4-Target Assay for High-Resolution HIV Reservoir Profiling

Abstract

Precise and scalable quantification of the genetically intact HIV reservoir is critical for advancing curative strategies. However, current HIV reservoir assays such as the intact proviral DNA assay (IPDA) are limited by quantification failures or misclassification of defective proviral genomes due to HIV sequence heterogeneity. Q4ddPCR is a modular, droplet digital PCR assay that simultaneously targets four conserved regions in the HIV genome to improve specificity, reduce quantification gaps, and provide multi-layered readouts. We benchmarked Q4ddPCR against 3,650 near full-length proviral sequences from 13 virally suppressed people with HIV (PWH) generated by Q4PCR using the same primer/probe sets. Q4ddPCR enabled intact reservoir quantification in 95% of samples from three independent cohorts and closely matched sequence-confirmed Q4PCR reservoir measurements. In addition, multi-probe readouts revealed clonal intact reservoir dynamics that are not detectable by IPDA. In longitudinal samples from 42 participants over the first 4.5 years on antiretroviral therapy (ART), Q4ddPCR reported lower proviral frequencies and a steeper decline in intact proviral DNA compared to IPDA. Collectively, our findings confirm key predictions from mathematical modeling, demonstrating that multi-target assays provide greater specificity and more accurately capture the dynamics of the intact HIV reservoir.