HIV budding from cell membrane.WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, NIH
HIV’s rapid mutation rates can lead to the evolution of drug resistance in HIV-positive patients receiving antiretroviral therapy, but naturally occurring resistance mutations can also accumulate to establish highly resistant HIV strains, according to new models published today (June 7) in PLoS Computational Biology. If true, the models suggest new interpretation for why HIV drug therapy can fail right off the bat.
“The paper is interesting, and may be important for getting scientists to think about evolution of drug resistance,” said Andrew Read, an evolutionary biologist at Pennsylvania State University who did not participate in the study. “The mechanism of drug resistance seems straightforward, but it’s not.” Even relatively simple questions, like whether drug resistance can be avoided by cycling between two different drugs, randomly ...
