Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of mutations and polymorphisms associated with drug resistance among HIV-1-infected patients in proviral DNA and viral RNA extracted from PBMCs and plasma, respectively, in 34 HIV-1-infected patients (11 naive and 23 receiving HAART). Additional drug resistance mutations were found in only one compartment in 14 of 23 treated patients. Mutations conferring resistance to an additional drug were found in plasma in only 7 of 23 patients. A greater number of differences was found in strains in patients infected for at least more than 9 years, compared to naive patients and patients for whom the time since the first diagnosis was lower (p < 0.02). This study confirms the usefulness of simultaneous testing of different compartments for assessing drug resistance in the pol region and suggests that the heterogeneity observed in different compartments might be increased with time of infection and treatment experience.
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