Changes in the Vif protein of HIV-1 associated with the development of resistance to inhibitors of viral protease

Abstract

The protease (PR) and virus infectivity factor (vif) gene sequences of a cohort of HIV-1 infected patients showing evidence of developing protease inhibitor (PI) resistance whilst undergoing highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) have been determined. The PR sequences showed the presence of the classical mutations associated with resistance to PIs. The sequence of the Vif protein showed less variation in samples from PI treated patients than in specimens prepared from treatment-naive patients. In addition a number of amino acid positions within Vif showed highly significant preferences for a particular amino acid in the Pi-treated cohort compared to the untreated control cohort. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.