Survey of HIV-1 drug resistance threshold in Shandong Province in 2013-2015

Abstract

Objective: To survey the prevalence of drug resistant HIV-1 in Shandong province in 2013-2015. Methods: WHO truncated sequential sampling technique was adopted by using 77 and 53 samples of newly diagnosed as HIV-1 positive and aged 16-25 years in Shandong province in 2013 and 2015. RNA was prepared and HIV-1 pol region was amplified by RT-PCR and nested PCR. Pol genetic mutation associated with drug resistance was analyzed. Results: The success rates for sequence acquisition of the survey were 100% (77/77) and 94% (50/53) in 2013 and 2015, and the main subtype was CRF01_AE. A total of 2 surveillance drug-resistance mutation(SDRMs) and 3 SDRMs were found by analyzing the 47 sequences each year, sampled in 2013 and 2015, indicating that the prevalence of drug resistant HIV-1 stains was low in 2013, and moderate in 2015. A total of 5 individuals with drug resistant HIV-1 stains found in this study were mainly infected by homosexual transmission (3 cases), and the other two samples were different: one was infected by heterosexual transmission, the other was infected by IDU. The subtype was CRF01_AE (2 cases) , CRF07_BC (2 cases) and B (1 case) . SDRMs for protease inhibitor (PIs), nucleotide HIV-reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTIs) and non-NRTI (NNRTIs) were all found in the individuals with drug resistant HIV-1 stains. Conclusion: CRF01_AE were the main HIV-1 subtypes of recently reported HIV-infected individuals in Shandong province, and the HIV-1 drug resistant strains transmission was catalogued as at low and moderate prevalence level in 2013 and 2015.