HIV-1 Amino Acid Changes Among Participants With Virologic Failure: Associations With First-line Efavirenz or Atazanavir Plus Ritonavir and Disease Status

Background. Although specific human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) drug resistance mutations are well studied, little is known about cumulative amino acid changes, or how regimen and participant characteristics influence these changes. Methods. In the AIDS Clinical Trials Group randomized study A5202 of treatment-naive HIV-infected participants, cumulative HIV-1 amino acid changes from pretreatment to virologic failure were evaluated in protease and reverse transcriptase (RT) gene sequences. Results. Among 265 participants with virologic failure, those assigned atazanavir plus ritonavir (ATV/r) did not have significantly more protease changes compared with those assigned efavirenz (EFV) (P >= .13). In contrast, participants with virologic failure assigned EFV had more RT changes, including and excluding known resistance codons (P<.001). At pretreatment, lower CD4 cell count, major resistance, more amino acid mixtures (all P<.001), hepatitis C antibody negativity (P=.05), and black race/ethnicity (P=.02) were associated with more HIV-1 amino acid changes. Conclusions. Virologic failure following EFV-containing treatment was associated with more HIV-1 amino acid changes compared to failure of ATV/r-containing treatment. Furthermore, we show that non-drug resistance mutations occurred more frequently among those failing EFV, the clinical relevance of which warrants further investigation. Pretreatment immunologic status may play a role in viral evolution during treatment, as evidenced by increased amino acid changes among those with lower pretreatment CD4 count.