RESEARCH ARTICLE
Harnessing Pharmacogenomics to Tackle Resistance to the “Nucleoside Reverse Trancripatse Inhibitor” Backbone of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy in Resource Limited Settings
Misaki Wayengera*, 1, 2, Henry Kajumbula2, Wilson Byarugaba1, 3
1 Division of Human and Molecular Genetics-Dept of Pathology College of Health Sciences, Makerere University P.O. Box 7072, Kampala, Uganda
2 Division of Molecular Biology Dept of Microbiology College of Health Sciences, Makerere University P.O. Box 7072 Kampala, Uganda
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2008Volume: 2
First Page: 78
Last Page: 81
Publisher ID: TOAIDJ-2-78
DOI: 10.2174/1874613600802010078
Article History:
Received Date: 18/5/2008Revision Received Date: 28/8/2008
Acceptance Date: 29/8/2008
Electronic publication date: 5/11/2008
Collection year: 2008
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background
The sustainable use of HAART within the sub-Saharan and other developing world settings faces the emerging challenge of drug resistance. Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI) form the backbone of HAART and preserving their “antiviral efficacy” is thus critical to sustainable HAART use.
Methods
A systematic review of the “mechanisms of evolution” of resistance to NRTI at the HIV genome level, and the phenotypic manifestations on drug pharmacokinetics was done.
Conclusion
This paper provides an evidence based account of how the knowledge of pharmacogenomics may be exploited to tackle NRTI resistance within limited resource.
Keywords: Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), drug resistance..
