Viruses, Vol. 13, Pages 1486: Compartmentalization of Resistance-Associated Substitutions in HIV/HCV-Infected Patients: Possible Correlation with Infecting HCV Genotype

Viruses, Vol. 13, Pages 1486: Compartmentalization of Resistance-Associated Substitutions in HIV/HCV-Infected Patients: Possible Correlation with Infecting HCV Genotype Viruses doi: 10.3390/v13081486 Authors: Giulia Morsica Riccardo Vercesi Hamid Hasson Emanuela Messina Caterina Uberti-Foppa Sabrina Bagaglio Resistance-associated substitutions (RASs) may exist prior to treatment and contribute to the failure of treatment with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). As the major site of HCV replication, naturally occurring variants with RASs may segregate into the liver. In the present study, we performed viral population sequencing to retrospectively investigate the NS3 and NS5A RAS profiles in 34 HIV/HCV coinfected patients naïve to anti-HCV treatment who underwent diagnostic liver biopsy between 2000 and 2006 and had liver and plasma samples available. Sixteen were infected by HCV genotype (GT) 1a, 11 by GT3a, and 7 by GT4d. The analysis of the NS3 domain in GT1a showed a difference in strain between the liver and plasma in three cases, with a preponderance of specific RASs in the liver compartment. In GT4d samples, 6/7 coupled liver and plasma samples were concordant with no RASs. Sequence analysis of the NS5A domain showed the presence of RASs in the livers of 2/16 patients harboring GT1a but not in the corresponding plasma. In GT4d, NS5A RASs were detected in 7/7 liver tissues and 5/7 plasma samples. NS3 domain and NS5A domain were found to be conserved in pl...
Source: Viruses - Category: Virology Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research