In vivo comparison of zidovudine resistance mutations in blood and CSF of HIV-1-infected patients.

Several mutations are associated with resistance to zidovudine (3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine, AZT) in cultured human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) isolates. Little is known as to what extent drug resistance occurs in vivo and whether its development within the CNS differs from that in peripheral blood. We therefore performed comparative nucleotide sequence analysis of the HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) gene in proviral DNA obtained from blood and CSF of three patients, all of whom had progressed to AIDS under long-term zidovudine treatment. Six to 11 individual proviral copies per patient and compartment were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-mediated direct sequencing. In all samples, mutations associated with zidovudine resistance could be identified. They occurred in multiple HIV-1 copies in both blood and CSF, indicating that molecular determinants of resistance are reflected in most individual proviruses in vivo. Comparable positions and frequencies of mutations in isolates derived from both compartments do not argue for independent development of zidovudine resistance in CSF.