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Updated: Apr 7, 2026

Rapid Screening of HIV Reverse Transcriptase and Integrase Inhibitors
Published on: April 9, 2014
Proviral DNA as a Target for HIV-1 Resistance Analysis
Nadine Lübke1, Veronica Di Cristanziano, Saleta Sierra
1Institute of Virology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
Background:
Resistance analysis from viral RNA is restricted to detectable viral load. Therefore, analysis from proviral DNA could help in cases with low-level or suppressed viremia.
Methods:
Viral plasma RNA and the corresponding cellular proviral DNA of 78 EDTA samples from 48 therapy-naïve (TN) and 30 therapy-experienced (TE) HIV-1-infected patients were isolated and analyzed for their resistance profiles in the protease and reverse transcriptase genes.
Results:
Overall, 175 drug-resistance mutations (DRMs) were detected in 25/30 TE (83.3%) and 5/48 TN (10.4%) samples. The TE patients displayed a mean number of 6.68 DRMs in RNA and 5.20 in DNA. In the TN patients, a mean of 0.8 DRMs was found in RNA and 1.0 in DNA; 75% of the DRMs were detected in RNA and DNA simultaneously. In the TE samples, 76% of the DRMs were detected simultaneously in RNA and DNA, 23% exclusively in RNA and 1% in DNA only. The TN samples revealed a significantly higher frequency of DRMs in DNA than in RNA.
Conclusions:
Proviral DNA resistance testing provides additional resistance information for TN patients. It is also a reliable alternative for TE patients with unsuccessful RNA testing and can provide valuable information when no records are available.
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