Analysis of env sequence evolution in human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients receiving therapy with...

Nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) can rapidly select for drug-resistant human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) variants, although their effect on HIV-1 quasi-species diversity is unknown. To determine if changes in env gene diversification occur with NNRTI therapy, we used the heteroduplex tracking assay (HTA) to study HIV-1 env sequence diversity in 2 groups of patients: those who were on no therapy or were on chronic antiretroviral therapy and those who had just initiated NNRTIs. Forty-nine paired samples from 46 patients were analyzed. Fourteen of 32 paired samples from the NNRTI group and 9 of 17 paired samples from the control group had HTA changes (P>.10). There was no correlation between HTA change and sampling time interval, baseline virus load, change in virus load, or development of NNRTI resistance. Thus, we found no significant correlation of NNRTI therapy with changes in env HTA patterns, suggesting that these treatments had little short-term impact on HIV-1 quasi-species diversity.