Mutations associated with genotypic resistance to antiretroviral therapy in treatment naive HIV-1 infected patients in Greece

The widespread use of antiviral drugs against HIV has increased the prevalence of HIV-1 resistant strains among naive individuals due to transmission of resistant strains. The purpose of this study was to investigate the presence of HIV-1 strains harboring resistance mutations in naive patients in Greece. Blood samples were collected from 25 individuals. The DNA sequence of protease and partial reverse transcriptase regions (codons 41-223) were obtained by direct sequencing. Our results showed the absence of any primary resistance mutations in the study population. However, we were able to identify high prevalence of sequence polymorphisms at positions in reverse transcriptase region associated mainly with resistance to NNRTIs. Moreover, in protease region several secondary mutations were detected, suggesting the higher genetic variability of this region. The clinical significance of the polymorphisms associated with reduced susceptibility to NNRTIs remains to be clarified. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.