A study of antiretroviral resistance patterns in treatment experienced and naive human immunodeficiency virus infected-patients

BACKGROUND: About 10% of the patients had surveillance drug-related mutations for nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) and protease inhibitors (PIs) in an Indian study. It was also reported that resistance was maximum for nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) and minimum for PIs. METHODS: The present study was a cross-sectional assessment of 21 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals attending a HIV care center in a tertiary care center in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. All HIV-infected individuals included in the present analysis were tested for CD4 count, viral load, and resistance to antiretrovirals (ARVs). RESULTS: A total of 13 male and 8 female were included in the present analysis. Of these, 18 were treatment naive and three were treatment experienced patients. In treatment-naive patients, the proportion of high-level resistance (HLR) was 2% for NRTIs, 5% for PIs, and 11% for NNRTIs. In treatment-naive patients, high susceptibility was observed for darunavir (89%) followed by lopinavir (72%) and fosamprenavir (67%) among PIs. Similarly, susceptibility was high for NRTIs lamivudine (94%), emtricitabine (94%), and tenofovir (89%). However, we found HLR for nevirapine (39%) even in treatment-naive patients. CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of HLR was relatively low for PIs and NRTIs, compared with NNRTIs in treatment-naive patients. We also reported a high correlation in resistance patterns among drugs belonging to the same group. Thus, it may be useful to conduct ARV resistance even in newly infected HIV patients and those receiving medications for the first time.