Resistance mutations in protease and reverse transcriptase genes of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 isolates from patients with combination antiretroviral therapy failure

High-density oligonucleotide arrays were used to determine the sequence of the protease (PR) and reverse transcriptase (RT) genes of human immunodeficiency virus type I isolates from 35 patients in whom combination therapy that included a protease inhibitor had failed. Isolates had a median of three PR mutations (range, none to six). Three isolates had no known resistance mutations in PR. Twelve isolates (34%) had two or fewer resistance mutations in PR. The most commonly observed PR mutations were L10I, V82A/T/F, and L90M, No mutations were observed at codons 30 or 48, Mutations at RT codons 215 and 184 were observed in the majority of isolates. These data suggest that therapy can fail in some patients with relatively few PR resistance mutations. Clinical failure in the absence of resistance mutations implies inadequate drug exposure due to pharmacologic factors or suboptimal patient adherence to drug therapy.