title: Phylogenetic analysis of reverse transcriptase in antiretroviral drug-naive Korean HIV type 1 patients.
abstract: To study whether genotypic antiretroviral resistance testing (GART) is needed to guide initial antiretroviral therapy in Korea, we determined partial pol sequences in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) obtained from 29 antiretroviral drug-naive HIV-1 patients. Phylogenetic analysis revealed four subtypes: B (23 patients), D (1 patient), recombinant strain (2 patients), and "untyped" (3 patients). Eighteen (78.3%) of the 23 subtype B isolates formed a distinct monophyletic cluster. The average genetic distances of 23 subtype B compared with reference strain HXB2 were 2.7% (range, 1.5-4.6%). Only one patient harbored variant virus containing a V179D mutation causing resistance to efavirenz. These data derived from therapy-naive patients suggest that potential use of primary resistance testing to guide initial antiretroviral therapy should be considered in Korea. This is the first report on the molecular nature of HIV-1 RT in Korea.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul 138-736, South Korea.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.forename: B T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Foley
authors.forename: I G
authors.initials: IG
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Chi
authors.forename: Y K
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Cho
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology; D054303:HIV Reverse Transcriptase / Q000235:genetics*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors; D054303:HIV Reverse Transcriptase