Drug resistance mutations of HIV type 1 non-B viruses to integrase inhibitors in treatment-naive patients from sub-saharan countries and discordant interpretations.

The routine use of integrase inhibitors in sub-Saharan Africa where HIV-1 non-B viruses predominate is limited, but evaluating their effectiveness on HIV-1 subtypes and CRFs that circulate in this region is essential. We here analyzed 97 integrase sequences from HIV-1 non-B-infected individuals from African countries. Using currently available interpretation algorithms (ANRS, HIVdb, and Rega), we identified the presence of mutations at nine resistance-associated positions including L74M (3.1%), T97A (9.3%), K156N (2.1%), E157Q (5.2%), G163K (1.0%), T206S (48.5%), S230N (1.0%), D232N (1.0%), and R236K (1.0%). All but one (E157Q) were considered as accessory resistant mutation by the algorithms. E157Q identified in 5% of patients tested (5/97) was selected by the ANRS algorithm as a primary mutation, which alone can confer resistance to raltegravir. These results illustrated the need of further in vitro and clinical studies involving non-B viruses to better understand the real significance of observed mutations and harmonize interpretations.