title: Fitness of drug resistant HIV-1: methodology and clinical implications.
abstract: Recent studies of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) fitness have examined the potential relationship with plasma viral load, drug resistance, and disease progression. For example, treatment of HIV-1 infected individuals with antiretroviral drugs may result in the selection and emergence of inhibitor-resistant variants with reduced replicative capacity. However, it is still unclear whether in vitro HIV-1 fitness has any direct relationship to in vivo disease progression or treatment success. A related question is which in vitro assay of viral fitness is the most appropriate for comparison with in vivo HIV-1 fitness. Characterization of the relative viral fitness of drug-resistant HIV-1 strains may lead to a better understanding of whether or not less fit viruses pose a clinical benefit to the patient.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, 9500 Euclid Avenue/NN10, OH 44195, USA. quinonm@ccf.org
authors.forename: Miguel E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Quiñones-Mateu
authors.forename: Eric J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Arts
mesh_terms: D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; D018450:Disease Progression; D024882:Drug Resistance, Viral; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000628:therapy / Q000821:virology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D019562:Viral Load; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics