Detection of Low-Level K65R Variants in Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor—Naive Chronic and Acute HIV-1 Subtype C Infections

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases Vol. 203; no. 6; pp. 798 - 802
• Main Authors: Li, Jin-fen, Lipscomb, Jonathan T., Wei, Xierong, Martinson, Neil A., Morris, Lynn, Heneine, Walid, Johnson, Jeffrey A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 15.03.2011
• Subjects: AIDS; Anti-HIV Agents - administration & dosage; Biological and medical sciences; Codons; Disease Transmission, Infectious - prevention & control; DNA Primers; Drug resistance; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; HIV; HIV 1; HIV Infections - drug therapy; HIV Infections - genetics; HIV Infections - virology; HIV-1 - classification; HIV-1 - drug effects; HIV-1 - genetics; HIV/AIDS; Human immunodeficiency virus 1; Human viral diseases; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infants; Infections; Infectious diseases; Major and Brief Reports; Medical sciences; Microbiology; Miscellaneous; Mutation; Neonatal screening; Nevirapine - administration & dosage; Polymerase chain reaction; Pregnancy; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors - pharmacology; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase - genetics; South Africa; Thailand; Viral diseases; Viral diseases of the lymphoid tissue and the blood. Aids; Virology; Women; Thailand; South Africa; Immunopathology; HIV-1 virus; Acute; Retroviridae; AIDS; Immune deficiency; Lentivirus; Virus; Infection; Chronic; Viral disease; Reverse transcriptase inhibitor; Nucleoside; Human immunodeficiency virus; Detection; Subtype
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613; 0022-1899; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiq126

To substantiate reports of greater emergence of the K65R nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) mutation in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) subtype C, we examined natural low-level K65R expression in subtype C, relative to subtypes B and AE. We used allele-Specific polymerase chain reaction to screen HIV-1 amplified by reverse-transcription high-fidelity polymerase chain reaction from subtype C-infected South African women and infants and CRF01 (subtype AE) from Thailand; all subjects were NRTI naive. We found low-level K65R of unknown clinical significance in NRTI-naive subtype C-infected women and infants at frequencies above the natural occurrence in subtypes and AE. The frequent appearance of subtype frameshift deletions at codon 65 supports a propensity for transcription error in this region.