Use of Sanger protocols to identify variants of concern, key mutations and track evolution of SARS-CoV-2.

Vaccination and the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants mark the second year of the pandemic. Variants have amino acid mutations at the spike region, a viral protein central in the understanding of COVID-19 pathogenesis and vaccine response. Variants may dominate local epidemics, as Gamma (P.1) in Brazil, emerging in 2020 and prevailing until mid-2021. Different obstacles hinder a wider use of Next-Generation Sequencing for genomic surveillance. We describe Sanger based sequencing protocols: i) Semi-nested RT-PCR covering up to 3.684 kb (>96 %) spike gene; ii) One-Step RT-PCR for key Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) mutations (codons 417-501); iii) One-Step RT-PCR of partial N region to improve genomic capability. Protocols use leftovers of RNA extracted from nasopharyngeal swabs for quantitative RT-PCR diagnosis; with retro-transcribed DNA sequenced at ABI 3500 using dye termination chemistry. Analyses of sequences from 95 individuals (late 2020/early 2021) identified extensive amino acid variation, 57 % with at least one key mutation at the Receptor Binding Domain, with B.1.1.28 lineage most prevalent, followed by Gamma and Zeta variants, with no Delta variant observed. The relatively low cost and simplicity may provide an accessible tool to improve surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 evolution, monitor new variants and vaccinated breakthroughs.

HIV-1-infected patients with advanced disease failing a raltegravir-containing salvage regimen in São Paulo, Brazil.

Raltegravir (RAL) is the first licensed antiretroviral integrase inhibitor that may be used both for treatment-naïve human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) patients and for salvage therapy. The Brazilian public free access programme limits its use for salvage therapy, with scarce information regarding RAL resistance from patients failing a RAL-containing salvage regimen. This study evaluated RAL resistance mutations detected by population sequencing in 69 HIV-infected patients with advanced disease failing a RAL-containing regimen in a real-world setting. RAL resistance mutations were identified in 47/69 patients (68%). The most common salvage regimen, used by 56/69 patients (81%), included lamivudine, tenofovir, darunavir/ritonavir and RAL. At failure, major RAL resistance mutations included Q148H/R/K (21/47; 45%), N155H (14/47; 30%), Y143R/H/C (3/47; 6%) and E92Q (1/47; 2%). Most samples with Q148H/R/K also showed G140S/A/C (21/47; 45%). RAL resistance was significantly associated with less than two active drugs in the optimised background therapy regimen at failure [39/39 (100%) vs. 9/17 (53%); P<0.001] and with a longer cumulative duration with detectable viraemia (viral load >50 copies/mL) (86 weeks vs. 32 weeks; P=0.001). A high frequency of RAL mutations was observed in this study. In addition, these results reinforce the importance of close monitoring of RAL-containing regimens to reduce the time of failure and consequent resistance accumulation.