Pretreatment HIV Drug Resistance and HIV-1 Subtype C Are Independently Associated With Virologic Failure: Results From the Multinational PEARLS (ACTG A5175) Clinical Trial

Clin Infect Dis. 2015 May 15;60(10):1541-9. doi: 10.1093/cid/civ102. Epub 2015 Feb 13.

Abstract

Background: Evaluation of pretreatment HIV genotyping is needed globally to guide treatment programs. We examined the association of pretreatment (baseline) drug resistance and subtype with virologic failure in a multinational, randomized clinical trial that evaluated 3 antiretroviral treatment (ART) regimens and included resource-limited setting sites.

Methods: Pol genotyping was performed in a nested case-cohort study including 270 randomly sampled participants (subcohort), and 218 additional participants failing ART (case group). Failure was defined as confirmed viral load (VL) >1000 copies/mL. Cox proportional hazards models estimated resistance-failure association.

Results: In the representative subcohort (261/270 participants with genotypes; 44% women; median age, 35 years; median CD4 cell count, 151 cells/µL; median VL, 5.0 log10 copies/mL; 58% non-B subtypes), baseline resistance occurred in 4.2%, evenly distributed among treatment arms and subtypes. In the subcohort and case groups combined (466/488 participants with genotypes), used to examine the association between resistance and treatment failure, baseline resistance occurred in 7.1% (9.4% with failure, 4.3% without). Baseline resistance was significantly associated with shorter time to virologic failure (hazard ratio [HR], 2.03; P = .035), and after adjusting for sex, treatment arm, sex-treatment arm interaction, pretreatment CD4 cell count, baseline VL, and subtype, was still independently associated (HR, 2.1; P = .05). Compared with subtype B, subtype C infection was associated with higher failure risk (HR, 1.57; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04-2.35), whereas non-B/C subtype infection was associated with longer time to failure (HR, 0.47; 95% CI, .22-.98).

Conclusions: In this global clinical trial, pretreatment resistance and HIV-1 subtype were independently associated with virologic failure. Pretreatment genotyping should be considered whenever feasible.

Clinical trials registration: NCT00084136.

Keywords: HIV; clinical trial; drug resistance; subtype.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Cohort Studies
  • Drug Resistance, Viral*
  • Female
  • Genotype*
  • Genotyping Techniques
  • HIV Infections / drug therapy*
  • HIV Infections / epidemiology*
  • HIV Infections / virology
  • HIV-1 / classification*
  • HIV-1 / drug effects*
  • HIV-1 / genetics
  • HIV-1 / isolation & purification
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
  • Treatment Failure
  • Viral Load
  • Young Adult
  • pol Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus / genetics

Substances

  • pol Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Associated data

  • ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT00084136