ISSN: 0973-7510

E-ISSN: 2581-690X

Research Article | Open Access
Jennifer Ashley H. Reyes1,2, Jarel Elgin Tolentino3, RJ Tex C. Castillo1, Peter Francis K. Dolores1 and Alfredo A. Hinay Jr1,2
1College of Medical and Biological Sciences, University of the Immaculate Conception, Davao City, Philippines.
2Graduate School Department, University of the Immaculate Conception, Davao City, Philippines.
3Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan.
Article Number: 9742 | © The Author(s). 2024
J Pure Appl Microbiol. 2024;18(4):2462-2468. https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.18.4.18
Received: 19 July 2024 | Accepted: 01 October 2024 | Published online: 13 November 2024
Issue online: December 2024
Abstract

The Philippines has experienced a significant increase in HIV-1 infections in recent years, with a growing epidemic driven by the CRF01_AE strain. Understanding the genetic diversity of HIV-1 in the Philippines is crucial for the development of effective treatment strategies and the prevention of drug resistance. This study analyzed comprehensive data on common resistance mutation patterns from 2009 to 2017, revealing an increasing trend of mutations observed in NRTI and NNRTI resistance among the predominant CRF01_AE strains. The most common NRTI mutations observed were M184V, K65R, and S68G, whereas the most common NNRTI mutations were K103N, Y181C, and G190A. The study also found a high prevalence of M184V minority variants (0.5-20%) in treatment-naive patients, which could increase the risk of virological failure in 3TC-containing regimens. The findings of this study highlight the importance of comprehensive drug resistance surveillance and access to resistance testing to guide optimal first-line antiretroviral treatment selection and to manage the growing HIV-1 epidemic in the Philippines. The development of effective strategies to prevent and manage drug resistance is crucial to ensuring the long-term success of HIV treatment programs in the country.

Keywords

HIV-1, Reverse Transcriptase Mutations, HIV-1 in the Philippines

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© The Author(s) 2024. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, sharing, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.