High concordance of genotypic coreceptor prediction in plasma-viral RNA and proviral DNA of HIV-1 subtype C: implications for use of whole blood DNA in resource-limited settings

Genotypic tropism testing (GTT) of HIV is increasingly used prior to the initiation of CCR5 antagonist therapy in HIV-infected individuals. Normally performed on plasma-derived virus, the test is challenging when performed in patients with suppressed viraemia. We aimed to evaluate the performance of cell-associated proviral DNA against plasma-derived viral RNA as the genetic material for GTT in an Indian clinical setting. From 52 HIV-1-infected individuals, the env V3 region was successfully amplified and sequenced from both proviral DNA and plasma RNA paired samples having a viral load >2500 copies/mL (n = 42) and from proviral DNA only in 10 antiretroviral therapy (ART)-experienced patients with a viral load