Prevalence of pre-treatment hepatitis C virus NS5A resistance associated amino-acid substitutions in genotype 1A infected patients in Scotland

Direct acting antivirals (DAAs) have revolutionised Hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment, as they produce dramatically improved response rates (up to 98%) with greatly reduced treatment durations (around 12 weeks) [1,2]. However, due to the high error-rate of the HCV RNA polymerase together with a high viral replication rate, resistance associated amino-acid substitutions (RAS) can exist at baseline in treatment na ïve individuals [3,4]. The presence of one or more polymorphisms at NS5A amino acid positions; K24, K26, M28, Q30, L31, P32, H58, A92 or Y93, has been shown to be associated with lower rates of sustained virological response (SVR) for patients infected with genotype 1A (G1A) virus depending on the NS5A inhibitor used [3,5–10].
Source: Journal of Clinical Virology - Category: Virology Authors: Tags: Short communication Source Type: research