Saravanan S, Gomathi S, Delong A, Kausalya B, Sivamalar S, Poongulali S, Brooks K, Kumarasamy N, Balakrishnan P, Solomon SS, Cu-Uvin S, Kantor R. High discordance in blood and genital tract HIV-1 drug resistance in Indian women failing first-line therapy.
J Antimicrob Chemother 2019;
73:2152-2161. [PMID:
29800305 DOI:
10.1093/jac/dky154]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2017] [Accepted: 03/30/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Objectives
Examine HIV-1 plasma viral load (PVL) and genital tract (GT) viral load (GVL) and drug resistance in India.
Methods
At the YRG Centre for AIDS Research and Education, Chennai, we tested: PVL in women on first-line ART for ≥6 months; GVL when PVL >2000 copies/mL; and plasma, genital and proviral reverse transcriptase drug resistance when GVL >2000 copies/mL. Wilcoxon rank-sum and Fisher's exact tests were used to identify failure and resistance associations. Pearson correlations were calculated to evaluate PVL-GVL associations. Inter-compartmental resistance discordance was evaluated using generalized estimating equations.
Results
Of 200 women, 37% had detectable (>400 copies/mL) PVL and 31% had PVL >1000 copies/mL. Of women with detectable PVL, 74% had PVL >2000 copies/mL, of which 74% had detectable GVL. Higher PVL was associated with higher GVL. Paired plasma and genital sequences were available for 21 women; mean age of 34 years, median ART duration of 33 months, median CD4 count of 217 cells/mm3, median PVL of 5.4 log10 copies/mL and median GVL of 4.6 log10 copies/mL. Drug resistance was detected in 81%-91% of samples and 67%-76% of samples had dual-class resistance. Complete three-compartment concordance was seen in only 10% of women. GT-proviral discordance was significantly larger than plasma-proviral discordance. GT or proviral mutations discordant from plasma led to clinically relevant resistance in 24% and 30%, respectively.
Conclusions
We identified high resistance and high inter-compartmental resistance discordance in Indian women, which might lead to unrecognized resistance transmission and re-emergence compromising treatment outcomes, particularly relevant to countries like India, where sexual HIV transmission is predominant.
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