title: Cellular HIV type 1 DNA levels are equivalent among drug-sensitive and drug-resistant strains in newly diagnosed and antiretroviral naive patients.
abstract: The emergence of resistance against current antiretroviral drugs to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is an increasingly important concern to the continuous success of antiretroviral therapy to HIV-1-infected patients. In the past decade, a number of studies reported that the prevalence of transmitted drug resistance among newly diagnosed patients has reached an overall 9% prevalence worldwide. Also, a number of studies using longitudinal HIV-1 patient study cohorts demonstrated that the cellular HIV-1 DNA level in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) has a prognostic value for the progression of HIV-1 disease independently of plasma HIV-1 RNA load and CD4 count. Using a previously established molecular-beacon-based real-time PCR methodology, cellular HIV-1 DNA levels were quantified in newly diagnosed and antiretroviral-naive patients in Northern Greece recruited between 2009 and 2010 using a predefined enrolling strategy, in an effort to investigate whether there is any relationship between cellular HIV-1 DNA levels and HIV-1 transmitted drug resistance. As part of the same study, DNA sequences encoding the env (C2-C5 region of gp120) were also amplified from PBMC-extracted DNA in order to determine the genotypic coreceptor tropism and genetic subtype. Cellular HIV-1 DNA levels had a median of 3.309 log10 HIV-1 copies per 10(6) PBMCs and demonstrated no correlation between cellular HIV-1 DNA levels and HIV-1 transmitted drug resistance. An absence of association between cellular HIV-1 DNA levels with plasma viral HIV-1 RNA load and CD4 levels was also found reconfirming the previously published study. Genotypic analysis of coreceptor tropism indicated that 96% of samples, independently of the presence or not of genotypic drug resistance, were CCR5-tropic. Overall, the findings reconfirmed the previously proposed proposition that transmitted drug resistance does not have an impact on disease progression in HIV-1-infected individuals. Also, CCR5 coreceptor tropism dominance suggests that both drug-resistant and drug-sensitive strains behave similarly in early infection in newly diagnosed patients.
authors.affiliation: 1 AIDS National Reference Laboratory of Northern Greece, Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki , Thessaloniki, Greece .
authors.forename: Zoi-Anna
authors.initials: ZA
authors.lastname: Antoniadou
authors.forename: Johana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hezka
authors.forename: Ioanna
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kousiappa
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mamais
authors.forename: Lemonia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Skoura
authors.forename: Dimitris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pilalas
authors.forename: Simeon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Metallidis
authors.forename: Pavlos
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nicolaidis
authors.forename: Nicolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Malisiovas
authors.forename: Leondios G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Kostrikis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D024882:Drug Resistance, Viral; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011533:Proviruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D019562:Viral Load; D056189:Viral Tropism
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral