Investigation of Drug-resistance substitutions in HIV-1 RT Protein in Iranian HIV Infected Patients

Abstract: Background:Currently, more than 37 million people are living with human immunodeficiency virus type 1. Reverse transcription (RT) is a main part in the life cycle of retroviruses which is responsible for synthesis of DNA complementary to an RNA or DNA template. Recently several inhibitors have been introduced to target RT protein; however, drug resistance is one of the greatest challenges in the improvement of effective treatment for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Here, we determined the resistance mutations in the RT gene in treatment failure patients and searched for the dominant subtype among them. Methods:HIV viral load and a reverse transcriptase nested polymerase chain (RT-nested PCR) reactions were performed in 15 patients with treatment failure to amplify the RT gene. Drug resistance mutations, as well as the viral subtypes, were analyzed using by using several bioinformatics software and online tools. Results: The frequency of RT related drug-resistance mutations in patients was 33.3%, among which the major mutation consisted of 20% of all those occurring in codon 184. Moreover, the results showed 6.6% and 26.6% of patients were resistant to Non-Nucleoside RT Inhibitor (NNRTIs) and Nucleoside RT Inhibitors (NRTIs), respectively. In addition, the vast majority of samples (12 patients of 15) belonged to subtype CRF35-AD.Conclusions:The present study reports updates on the mutations related to RT resistance in Iranian HIV patients receiving treatment, show that 20% of the samples had a high-level of resistance to Lamivudine, and Emtricitabine which should be confirmed for further antiretroviral (AVR) regimens for HIV infected patients. Also, two new mutations related to resistance to Nevirapine, Doravirine, Zidovudine, and Stavudine were introduced in this investigation.The present results could be used as predictive information on the response to anti-RT, and also highlight the importance of considering the periodic monitoring of HIV resistance test in HIV infected patients