Detalle de: Prevalence and Genetic Heterogeneity of the Reverse Transcriptase T69S-S-X Insertion in Pretreated HIV-Infected Patients

The emergence of resistance to antiretroviral drugs represents one of the main reasons for treatment failure in HIV-infected persons. Resistance to multiple nucleoside analogues may result from rearrangements in the HIV <i>pol</i> gene, in particular one insertion of two amino acids at position 69. Herein, we examined the prevalence of this resistant genotype and its genetic heterogeneity in a group of 475 healthy pretreated HIV-positive subjects in Spain. Only 4 (0.8%) carried the codon 69 insertion. It was always found coupled to the T69S mutation. The extra amino acids were S-S in 2 subjects and S-G in the other 2. The presence of the insert was seen only in subjects previously exposed to AZT monotherapy for at least 6 months.