Patterns of Resistance Emerging in HIV-1 From Antiretroviral-Experienced Patients Undergoing Intensification Therapy With Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate

Study GS-99-907 was a 48-week, phase 3, double-blind, placebo-controlled intensification trial of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (tenofovir DF). Antiretroviral-experienced patients added tenofovir DF 300 mg once daily to their existing regimen. The patterns of HIV-1 resistance development and the corresponding virologic responses were evaluated in a virology substudy at week 48. Although 94% of these treatment-experienced patients had nucleoside-associated resistance mutations (NAMs) at baseline, addition of tenofovir DF resulted in a mean reduction in viral load of −0.59 log10 copies/mL after 24 weeks that was durable through 48 weeks. Relative to the placebo-controlled arm, patients in the tenofovir DF arm had a reduced frequency of development of resistance mutations to all classes of HIV-1 inhibitors, with reduction in new protease inhibitor (PI)-associated mutations achieving statistical significance. The K65R mutation, which occurred in 8 patients (3%), was the only emergent mutation directly associated with tenofovir DF therapy. New thymidine analogue–associated mutations (TAMs) emerged in 19% of patients by week 48. Other than K65R, the patterns of mutations that developed were not significantly different between the tenofovir DF and placebo control arms, suggesting that the background therapies caused their development. The K65R mutation emerged only in patients with no detectable TAMs at baseline, whereas new TAMs developed similarly between patients with or without TAMs at baseline. Development of K65R was associated with mostly low-level changes in phenotypic susceptibility to tenofovir DF and other nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors and was not associated with viral load rebound. No novel patterns of genotypic or phenotypic resistance to tenofovir were identified. Therefore, intensification with once-daily tenofovir DF therapy resulted in a sustained reduction in HIV-1 viral load and a low risk for development of the K65R mutation in this treatment-experienced patient population.