Geno- and phenotypic characterization of human cytomegalovirus mutants selected in vitro after letermovir (AIC246) exposure.

ABSTRACT

Letermovir is a novel antiviral compound currently in clinical development for the prevention of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infections. In contrast to all currently approved anti-HCMV drugs that target the viral DNA polymerase, letermovir acts via a distinct mode of action involving the viral terminase subunit pUL56. To extend our understanding of potential letermovir resistance mechanisms, we used marker transfer to characterize mutations identified in letermovir-resistant HCMV variants that were selected in cell culture.