HIV persistence in deep tissues on dolutegravir based antiretroviral therapy is not associated with the selection of drug resistance mutations to second generation INSTI

Little is known about HIV-1 persistence in deep tissues, especially in healthy people livingwithHIV-1 (PLWH) on a successful antiretroviral regimen containing second generation integrase strand-transfer inhibitors. To characterize this persistence, we explored five accessible anatomical sites in 20 PLWH on an efficient first-line ART regimen containing dolutegravir: PBMCs, rectum, adipose tissue, lymph node and sperm. We quantified total HIV-1 DNA and cell-associated HIV-1 RNA. We proceeded to sequence HIV-1 DNA with Miseq (Illumina® technology) for searching drug resistance mutations (DRM) (in RT and INT) and for studying HIV diversity within tissues (ENV).