Amilcar Tanuri

The presence of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) bearing mutations resistant to nucleosidic inhibitors of the viral reverse transcriptase (RT) derived from HIV-seropositive asymptomatic and untreated volunteer blood donors was examined. The RT amplicons of 32 specimens were analyzed by using a reverse hybridization line probe assay technique that detects resistance against zidovudine (3′-azido-3′-deoxythymidine [AZT], didanosine (2′,3′-dideoxyinosine [ddI], zalcitabine (2′,3′-dideoxycytidine [ddC]), and lamivudine {(−)-β- l -2′,3′-dideoxy-3′-thiacytidine [3TC]} at amino acid positions 41, 69, 70, 74, 184, and 215 of the HIV RT. One sample (brp004, subtype B) showed an AZT resistance secondary mutation at position K70R. Fifteen specimens revealed one or more sites of nonreactivity to both wild-type- and mutant-specific probes (dual nonreactivity). Samples were also submitted to RT direct sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. Nine of 32 specimens belonged to non-B subtypes (C, D, F, and F/B or B/F mosaics). Three of these non-B isolates, named brp004, brp063, and brp069, revealed three other relevant AZT resistance mutations—a T215F mutation and two M41L mutations, respectively—hidden by the nonreactivity to line probe assay strips on the respective codon regions. The isolate brp004 also carried a D67N AZT resistance mutation revealed by direct sequencing. No nonnucleosidic RT inhibitor-resistant mutation was found. The analysis revealed a frequency of 2.26 × 10 ⁻⁴ mutations per nucleotide for independent samples related to RT resistance. These findings emphasize the magnitude of naturally occurring reservoirs of drug-resistant virus among untreated HIV-1-positive individuals in Brazil.

The genetic variation of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) protease gene ( prt ) permits the classification of HIV-1 strains into five distinct protease subtypes, which follow the gag subtyping patterns. The susceptibilities of non-B-subtype strains to protease inhibitors (PIs) and other antiretroviral drugs remain largely unknown. Subtype F is the main non-B strain contributing to the Brazilian epidemic, accounting for 15 to 20% of these infections. In this work, we report the findings on 81 isolates from PI-naive Brazilian patients collected between 1993 and 1997. In addition, the relevant PI resistance mutations and their phenotypes were determined in vitro for 15 of these patients (B = 9 and F = 6). Among these, the subtype F samples evidenced high sensitivities in vitro to ritonavir and indinavir, with MICs at which 50 and 90% of the isolates are inhibited similar to those of both the Brazilian and the U.S. subtype B isolates. Analysis of the 81 Brazilian prt sequences demonstrated that the subtype F consensus sequence differs from the U.S. and Brazilian subtype B consensus in eight positions (I15V, E35D, M36I, R41K, R57K, Q61N, L63P, and L89M). The frequency of critical PI resistance substitutions (amino acid changes D30N, V82A/F/T, I84V, N88D, and L90M) among Brazilian isolates is very low (mean, 2.5%), and the associated secondary substitutions (amino acid positions 10L, 20K, 36M, 46M, 48G, 54I, 63P, 71A, and 77A) are infrequent. These observations document the relative rarity of resistance to PIs in the treatment of patients infected with HIV-1 subtype F in South America.