| Disease | IN THIS STUDY, WE INVESTIGATED WHETHER THE DEVELOPMENT OF RESISTANCE MUTATIONS IN REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE (RT) TO ZIDOVUDINE (ZDV) IS DELAYED BY COMBINED THERAPY WITH KRG AND ZDV. NESTED POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION (PCR) AND DIRECT SEQUENCING
WERE USED TO DEFINE RT CODONS 41,67,70,210,215 AND 219 OF THE HIV-1 POL GENE IN DNA FROM PERIPHERAL BLOOD MONOUCLEAR CELLS (PBMC) SAMPLES FROM 18 PATIENTS. NINE OF THESE EIGHTEEN PATIENTS WERE IN THE KRG GROUP AND HAD BEEN TREATED WITH KRG
FOR 60(DL)-15 MONTHS (RANGE: 38-82) AND ZDV, AND NINE WERE IN THE CONTROL GROUP AND HAD BEEN TREATED WITH ZDV ONLY. THE PATIENTS IN THE KRG GROUP HAD BEEN TREATED WITH ZDV FOR 75(DL)24 MONTHS, AND CD4-+ T CELL COUNTS WERE MAINTAINED TREATED
WITH ZDV FOR 51(DL)-31 MONTHS, AND THEIR CD4-+ T CELL COUNTS DECREASED FROM 272(DL)-97 TO 146(DL)-154 MU1-1(P<0.01). IN SAMPLES WITHIN 24 MONTHS OF ZDV THERAPY, THE OVERALL INCIDENCE OF 6 RESISTANCE MUTATIONS TO ZDV WAS 4.2% AND 47% IN THE
KRG AND CONTROL GROUP (P>0.01), RESPECTIVELY. IN SAMPLES AFTER 24 MONTHS OF THERAPY, THE INCIDENCE WAS 21.7% AND 56.3% IN THE KRG AND CONTROL GROUP (P<0.01), RESPECTIVELY, THESE DATE SUGGEST THAT THE MAINTENANCE OF CD4-+ T CELL COUNTS BY ZDV AND
KRG-INTAKE FOR A PROLONGED PERIOD MIGHT BE INDIRECTLY ASSOCIATED WITH DELAYED DEVELOPMENT OF RESISTANCE TO ZDV BY KRG-INTAKE. |