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Combinations of antiretroviral drugs that prevent or delay the appearance of drug-resistant human immunodeficiency virus-type 1 (HIV-1) mutants are urgently required. Mutants resistant to 3'-azidothymidine (AZT, zidovudine) became phenotypically sensitive in vitro by mutation of residue 184 of viral reverse transcriptase to valine, which also induced resistance to (-)2'-deoxy-3'-thiacytidine (3TC). Furthermore, AZT-3TC coresistance was not observed during extensive in vitro selection with both drugs. In vivo AZT-3TC combination therapy resulted in a markedly greater decreased in serum HIV-1 RNA concentrations than treatment with AZT alone, even though valine-184 mutants rapidly emerged. Most samples assessed from the combination group remained AZT sensitive at 24 weeks of therapy, consistent with in vitro mutation studies.
Larder et al. (Fri,) studied this question.