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Increased ability for selection of zidovudine resistance
in a distinct class of wild-type HIV-1 from drug-naive persons.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2001;98:13907-13912.
Garcia-Lerma JG, Nidtha S, Blumoff K, Weinstock H, Heneine W.
Abstract
Transmission of HIV-1 with reduced susceptibility to antiretroviral
drugs
raises public health concerns. Through surveillance of drug-resistant
HIV-1 in 603 treatment-naïve, recently diagnosed HIV-1-infected
persons, we identified a distinct group of viruses that have mutations
at codon 215 of the reverse transcriptase(RT) gene that are
different from either the wild-type (WT) Tor the zidovudine (AZT)-selected
T215Y/F. These mutations included215D/C/S and were
found in 20 patients (3.3%). The 215D, 215C,and 215S mutations
differ from 215Y by a 1-nt change compared with 2 nt for the
WT
T215 and likely represent revertants of 215Y.These viruses all were
found to have WT susceptibility to AZT,and all replicated efficiently
as WT HIV-1T215. However, differences in fitness among
HIV-1215D, HIV-1215C, and
HIV-1215S were seen when RT backgrounds were changed, demonstrating
a role of the RT background in the selection of these
revertants. In vitro selection with AZT showed that
HIV-1215D and HIV-1215C acquired 215Y more rapidly
than did WT HIV-1T215, likely reflecting the need
foronly 1-nt change to evolve to 215Y. Our study demonstrates
that HIV-1 with unusual mutations at codon 215 replicate
efficiently, have WT susceptibility, and are commonly found in
treatment-naïve persons. The increased ability for selecting resistance
mutations defines this class of WT HIV-1 and highlights the higher
potential of these viruses to compromise the efficacy of
antiretroviral therapy.