Identification of drug resistant mutations in HIV-1 CRF07_BC variants selected by nevirapine in vitro

PLoS One. 2012;7(9):e44333. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0044333. Epub 2012 Sep 12.

Abstract

Since the antiretroviral therapy (ART) was introduced to patients infected by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the HIV related mortality and morbidity have been significantly reduced. The major obstacle for long-term successful anti-HIV treatment is the emergence of drug resistant mutants. Current data of drug resistance was mainly obtained on HIV-1 subtype B but rarely on non-B virus, even more rare with newly emerged circulating recombinant forms (CRFs). The lack of such data limits the rational management of ART for the increasing number of patients infected by non-subtype B virus. In this study, a HIV-1 CRF07_BC strain CNGZD was isolated from a HIV patient and its genome was sequenced and deposited in GenBank (JQ423923). Potential drug resistant mutants of this CRF07_BC virus strain were selected in PBMCs cultures in the presence of Nevirapine (NVP), which is the most frequently used antiretroviral drug in China. Four combination profiles of mutations were identified in the NVP-selected mutants, which were initiated with A98G, V108I, Y181C and I135T/I382L and followed by more than two other mutations at the end of the selections, respectively. A total of seven previously reported mutations (A98G, V106M, V108I, I135T, Y181C, V189I, K238N) and seven novel mutations (P4H, T48I, I178M, V314A, I382L/V, T386A) in the reverse transcriptase gene were found in these NVP-selected mutants. Phenotypic analysis in the NVP-selected mutants showed that all the mutations, except P4H, contribute to NVP resistance. Among them, V106M and Y181C reduce NVP susceptibility for more than 20-fold, while the other mutations cause less than 20 folds drug resistance. Although the information obtained in this in vitro selection study may not fully cover resistant mutations which will actually occur in patients, it has still provided useful information for rational management of ART in patients infected with HIV CRF_BC subtype.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Anti-HIV Agents / pharmacology*
  • Anti-Retroviral Agents / pharmacology
  • China
  • Computational Biology
  • Drug Resistance, Viral*
  • Female
  • Genetic Variation*
  • Genome, Viral
  • Genotype
  • HIV Infections / drug therapy*
  • HIV Infections / virology*
  • HIV-1 / genetics*
  • Humans
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Mutation*
  • Nevirapine / pharmacology*
  • Phylogeny
  • RNA, Viral / genetics
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA

Substances

  • Anti-HIV Agents
  • Anti-Retroviral Agents
  • RNA, Viral
  • Nevirapine

Associated data

  • GENBANK/JQ423923

Grants and funding

This work was financially supported by by AIDS Trust Fund, Hong Kong SAR Government. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.