Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 protease and reverse transcriptase mutation patterns among treatment-naive patients in different stages of infection in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

• Published in: Journal of medical virology Vol. 79; no. 8; pp. 1033 - 1039
• Main Authors: Varella, Rafael Brandão, Ferreira, Selma Baía, de Castro, Márcia Braga, Zalis, Mariano Gustavo, Tavares, Marisa Dias
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.08.2007; Wiley-Liss
• Subjects: Adult; Anti-HIV Agents - administration & dosage; Anti-HIV Agents - therapeutic use; antiretroviral; Biological and medical sciences; Brazil - epidemiology; Drug Resistance, Multiple, Viral - genetics; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetics; HIV Infections - drug therapy; HIV Infections - epidemiology; HIV Infections - virology; HIV Protease - genetics; HIV Protease - metabolism; HIV Reverse Transcriptase - genetics; HIV Reverse Transcriptase - metabolism; HIV-1; HIV-1 - genetics; Human immunodeficiency virus 1; Humans; Male; Microbiology; Middle Aged; Mutation; Polymorphism, Genetic; resistance; treatment; Virology; South America; Brazil; America; Human; HIV-1; Immunopathology; Antiretroviral agent; RNA-directed DNA polymerase; HIV-1 virus; Enzyme; Transferases; Retroviridae; AIDS; Immune deficiency; Lentivirus; Virus; Infection; Resistance; antiretroviral; Nucleotidyltransferases; Treatment; Viral disease; Antiviral; Human immunodeficiency virus; Mutation
• ISSN: 0146-6615; 1096-9071
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.20845

The presence of genetic mutations in HIV‐1‐positive untreated individuals and its contribution to treatment failure, either in an individual or on a population basis, remains an important concern. The goal was to analyze and compare HIV‐1 reverse transcriptase (RT) and protease (PR) genes of untreated individuals with chronic and recent infections. Fifty‐one chronic infected individuals for whom initiation of antiretroviral treatment had been recommended and 20 individuals with recent documented HIV‐1 seroconversion had their plasma viral RNA extracted and the PR and RT genes sequenced in order to determine subtype, presence of genetic polymorphisms and mutations associated with resistance to antiretroviral drugs. All 20 recent seroconvertors were infected with subtype B viruses. Of the 51 chronically infected patients, 40 (78.4%), 7 (13.7%), and 2 (3.9%) were infected with subtypes B, F, and C, respectively. Two (3.9%) hybrid forms were also observed in two individuals with chronic infection: D/B and D/F. Despite seroconversion stage, type and quantity of mutations were similar to both groups (P = 0.961). This group also presented the only (1.4%) drug‐resistance mutation (M184V) among all samples investigated. In summary, the present study shows a high occurrence of equivalent polymorphisms unrelated to drug resistance in samples collected from untreated HIV‐1‐ infected individuals in different seroconversion status, and suggests low primary resistance mutations. Results also indicate that non‐B subtypes circulating in Rio de Janeiro have specific Brazilian non‐synonymous mutations. J. Med. Virol. 79: 1033–1039, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.