Prevalence and structure of hiv-1 drug resistance among treatment naïve patients since the introduction of antiretroviral therapy in the russian federation

Aim: to analyze the prevalence, structure of drug resistance and drug resistance mutations in the protease and reverse transcriptase genes of HIV-1 among treatment naïve patients.Materials and methods. We analyzed protease and reverse transcriptase sequences from 1560 treatment naïve HIV-infected patients from all Federal Districts of the Russian Federation with the first positive immune blot during 1998–2017. Sequences were analyzed for the presence of drug resistance mutations and predicted drug resistance to antiretroviral drugs using two algorithms — Stanford HIVDR Database (HIVdb) and the 2009 SDRM list (CPR).Results. The prevalence of drug resistance mutations was 11,1%. More often the prevalence of drug resistance was found for non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor drugs (rilpivirine, nevirapine, efavirenz). The prevalence of transmitted drug resistance associated with mutations from the SDRM list was 5,3%, which is classified by the WHO as a moderate level. However, it should be noted that since the large-scale use of antiretroviral drugs in the Russian Federation, there has been a trend towards a gradual increase in the level of the transmitted drug resistance, and in 2016 it has already reached 6,1%.Conclusion. The results demonstrate the need for regular surveillance of the prevalence of HIV drug resistance to antiretroviral drugs among treatment naïve patients in the Russian Federation.