Patent ID: 7169551

Claim:
A method of determining susceptibility of a population of virus infecting a patient to compounds which inhibit viral entry into a cell, comprising: a. obtaining a population of viral envelope nucleic acids encoding envelope proteins from the patient; b. co-transfecting into a first group of cells the envelope nucleic acids and viral expression vectors which lack a nucleic acid encoding an envelope protein, and which comprise an indicator nucleic acid which produces a detectable signal, such that the first group of cells produce viral particles comprising the envelope proteins of the population of virus infecting the patient; c. contacting the viral particles with a second group of cells in the presence of a concentration of compound, wherein the second group of cells express a cell surface receptor and/or co-receptor to which the virus binds; d. measuring the amount of signal produced in the second group of cells in order to determine the infectivity of the viral particles; and e. comparing the amount of signal in the absence and presence of the compound, wherein a change in the amount of signal indicates that the virus indicates altered susceptibility to the compound.