Important note: Information in this Q&A was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.I am a second year medical student and I was wondering if you knew the name of the gene that allows for drug resistance against HIV??
Dear future doc,
There a dozens of viral genetic mutations that confer partial resistance to anti-retroviral drugs isolated from individuals with HIV infection.
It takes several mutations to have resistance to reverse transcriptase inhibitors or protease inhibitors, but only one mutation for non-nucleoside reverst transcriptase inhibitors.
These genes are in the viral genes, not the human host's genes.
The following is a pretty good introduction to a complex subject:
http://www.iasusa.org/resistance_mutations/mutations_figures.pdf
Hope this helps.
071008
ASKD071008
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