Volume 41, Issue 8 pp. 1802-1814
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Resistance analysis and treatment outcomes in hepatitis C virus genotype 3-infected patients within the Italian network VIRONET-C

Velia Chiara Di Maio

Velia Chiara Di Maio

Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

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Silvia Barbaliscia

Silvia Barbaliscia

Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

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Elisabetta Teti

Elisabetta Teti

Infectious Diseases, University Hospital of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

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Gianluca Fiorentino

Gianluca Fiorentino

Infectious Diseases, Sant’Andrea Hospital – “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy

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Martina Milana

Martina Milana

Hepatology Unit, University Hospital of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

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Stefania Paolucci

Stefania Paolucci

Molecular Virology Unit, Microbiology and Virology Department, IRCCS Policlinic Foundation San Matteo, Pavia, Italy

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Teresa Pollicino

Teresa Pollicino

Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Messina, Messina, Italy

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Giulia Morsica

Giulia Morsica

Division of Infectious Diseases, IRCCS, Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy

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Mario Starace

Mario Starace

Laboratory for the identification of prognostic factors of response to the treatment against infectious diseases, University of Campania "L. Vanvitelli", Napoli, Italy

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Bianca Bruzzone

Bianca Bruzzone

Hygiene Unit, IRCCS AOU San Martino-IST, Genoa, Italy

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William Gennari

William Gennari

Microbiology Unit, University Hospital of Modena, Modena, Italy

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Valeria Micheli

Valeria Micheli

Clinical Microbiology, Virology and Bioemergencies, ASST Fatebenefratelli Sacco University Hospital, Milan, Italy

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Katia Yu La Rosa

Katia Yu La Rosa

Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

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Luca Foroghi

Luca Foroghi

Infectious Diseases, University Hospital of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

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Vincenza Calvaruso

Vincenza Calvaruso

Gastroenterology, “P. Giaccone” University Hospital, Palermo, Italy

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Ilaria Lenci

Ilaria Lenci

Hepatology Unit, University Hospital of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

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Ennio Polilli

Ennio Polilli

Infectious Disease Unit, Pescara General Hospital, Pescara, Italy

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Sergio Babudieri

Sergio Babudieri

Medical, Surgical and Experimental Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy

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Alessio Aghemo

Alessio Aghemo

Division of Internal Medicine and Hepatology, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center IRCCS, Rozzano, Italy

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Giovanni Raimondo

Giovanni Raimondo

Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Messina, Messina, Italy

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Loredana Sarmati

Loredana Sarmati

Infectious Diseases, University Hospital of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

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Nicola Coppola

Nicola Coppola

Laboratory for the identification of prognostic factors of response to the treatment against infectious diseases, University of Campania "L. Vanvitelli", Napoli, Italy

Department of Mental Health and Public Medicine, Infectious Diseases Unit, University of Campania “L. Vanvitelli”, Naples, Italy

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Caterina Pasquazzi

Caterina Pasquazzi

Infectious Diseases, Sant’Andrea Hospital – “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy

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Fausto Baldanti

Fausto Baldanti

Molecular Virology Unit, Microbiology and Virology Department, IRCCS Policlinic Foundation San Matteo, Pavia, Italy

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Giustino Parruti

Giustino Parruti

Infectious Disease Unit, Pescara General Hospital, Pescara, Italy

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Carlo Federico Perno

Carlo Federico Perno

IRCCS Children Hospital Bambino Gesù, Rome, Italy

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Mario Angelico

Mario Angelico

Hepatology Unit, University Hospital of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

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Antonio Craxì

Antonio Craxì

Gastroenterology, “P. Giaccone” University Hospital, Palermo, Italy

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Massimo Andreoni

Massimo Andreoni

Infectious Diseases, University Hospital of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

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Francesca Ceccherini-Silberstein

Corresponding Author

Francesca Ceccherini-Silberstein

Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

Correspondence

Francesca Ceccherini-Silberstein, Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata; Via Montpellier 1, Rome 00133, Italy.

Email: [email protected]

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HCV Virology Italian Resistance Network Group (Vironet C)

HCV Virology Italian Resistance Network Group (Vironet C)

Members are listed in the Appendix section.

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First published: 26 January 2021
Citations: 15

VC Di Maio and S. Barbaliscia shared first authorship.

Funding information

This work was supported in part by the Italian Ministry of Instruction, University and Research (MIUR) (Bandiera InterOmics Protocollo PB05 1°), the Italian Ministry of Health (RF-2016-02362422), a research grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) (Study Protocol AI444-397), a research grant from Investigator-Initiated Studies Program of Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp (IIS 54882), the Fellowship Program/Digital Health Program 2018 of Gilead and by Aviralia and Vironet C Foundations. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.

Handling Editor: Luca Valenti

Abstract

Aim

This study aimed to investigate the role of resistance-associated substitutions (RASs) to direct-acting-antivirals (DAAs) in HCV genotype 3 (GT3).

Methods

Within the Italian VIRONET-C network, a total of 539 GT3-infected patients (417 DAA-naïve and 135 DAA-failures, of them, 13 at both baseline and failure) were analysed. Sanger sequencing of NS3/NS5A/NS5B was performed following home-made protocols.

Results

The majority of patients were male (79.4%), 91.4% were injection drug users, 49.3% were cirrhotic and 13.9% were HIV co-infected. Phylogenetic analysis classified sequences as GT3a-b-g-h (98%-0.4%-0.2%-1.2%) respectively.

Overall, 135 patients failed a DAA regimen: sofosbuvir (SOF)/daclatasvir (DCV) or velpatasvir (VEL)±ribavirin (RBV) (N = 91/15) and glecaprevir (G)/pibrentasvir (P) (N = 9). Moreover, 14.8% of patients were treated with suboptimal regimens for GT3: 3D ± RBV (Paritaprevir/r + Ombitasvir+Dasabuvir, N = 15), SOF + Simeprevir (SIM) (N = 1) or SOF/Ledipasvir (LDV) ± RBV (N = 4).

RAS prevalence was 15.8% in DAA-naïve patients. At failure, 81.5% patients showed at least one RAS: 11/25 (44.0%) in NS3, 109/135 (80.7%) in NS5A, 7/111 (6.3%) in NS5B SOF-failures. In NS5A-failures, Y93H RAS was the most prevalent (68.5% vs 5.1% DAA-naïve, P < .001) followed by A30K (12.7% vs 2.8% in DAA-naïve, P < .001). Analysing baseline samples, a higher prevalence of NS5A-RASs was observed before treatment in DAA-failures (5/13, 38.5%) vs DAA-naïves (61/393, 15.5%, P = .04). Regarding 228 DAA-naïve patients with an available outcome, 93.9% achieved a SVR. Interestingly, patients with baseline Y93H and/or A30K had SVR rate of 72.2% vs 95.7% for patients without NS5A-RASs (P = .002).

Conclusions

In this real-life GT3 cohort, the majority of failures harboured resistant variants carrying NS5A-RASs, the most frequent being Y93H. The presence of natural NS5A-RASs before treatment was associated with failure. Further analyses are needed to confirm this observation, particularly for the new current regimens.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Francesca Ceccherini-Silberstein: Speaking and/or consulting fees: Abbvie, Gilead, Janssen, Merck/MSD, ViiV Healthcare. All the other authors: None to declare.

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