Search

Celia Perales,1,2,* Qian Chen,1,2,* Maria Eugenia Soria,1 Josep Gregori,1–3 Damir Garcia-Cehic,1,2 Leonardo Nieto-Aponte,4 Lluis Castells,1,2 Arkaitz Imaz,5 Meritxell Llorens-Revull,1 Esteban Domingo,2,6 Maria Buti,1,2,7 Juan Ignacio Esteban,1,2,7 Francisco Rodriguez-Frias,2,4,7 Josep Quer1,2,7 1Liver Unit, Liver Disease Laboratory-Viral Hepatitis, Internal Medicine Department, Vall d’Hebron Institut of Research (VHIR)- Vall d’Hebron University Hospital(HUVH), 08035, Barcelona, Spain; 2Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red (CIBER) de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBERehd) del Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029, Madrid, Spain; 3Roche Diagnostics SL, Sant Cugat del Vallès, 08174, Barcelona, Spain; 4Liver Pathology Unit, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, HUVH, 08035, Barcelona, Spain; 5HIV and STD Unit, Infectious Diseases Department, Bellvitge University Hospital-Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institut (IDIBELL), Hospitalet de Llobregat, 08907, Barcelona, Spain; 6Virology and Microbiology Department, Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa” (CSIC-UAM), Campus de Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain; 7Medicine Department. Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193, Barcelona, Spain *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: Controversy is ongoing about whether a minority mutant present at frequencies below 15% may be clinically relevant and should be considered to guide treatment. Methods: Resistance-associated substitution (RAS) studies were performed in patients before and at failure of antiviral treatments using Next-generation hepatitis C virus (HCV) sequencing (NGS). Results: We have found two patients with genotype 1a infection having RAS in 3.5%–7.1% of the viral population at baseline that were selected during ledipasvir + sofosbuvir treatment. Co-selection of RAS located in a region not directly affected by the antiviral treatment also occurred. This observation calls into question, the recommendations to guide RAS-based direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment only when RAS are present in >15% of the sequences generated. Conclusion: Our results suggests that RAS study should include all three HCV DAA target proteins and minority mutants should be considered as clinically relevant. Keywords: HCV, minority mutants, NGS, antiviral resistance

Christoph Sarrazin,1 Francesco Castelli,2 Pietro Andreone,3 Maria Buti,4 Massimo Colombo,5 Stanislas Pol,6 Filipe Calinas,7 Massimo Puoti,8 Antonio Olveira,9 Mitchell Shiffman,10 Jerry O Stern,11 George Kukolj,12 Michael Roehrle,13 Stella Aslanyan,11 Qiqi Deng,11 Richard Vinisko,11 Federico J Mensa,11 David R Nelson,14 on behalf of the HCVerso1 and 2 study groups 1Department of Internal Medicine 1, JW Goethe University Hospital, Frankfurt, Germany; 2Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, University of Brescia, Brescia, 3Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Università di Bologna and Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria, Policlinico Sant‘Orsola-Malpighi, Bologna, Italy; 4Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron and CIBERehd del Instituto Carlos III, Barcelona, Spain; 5Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Fondazione IRCCS Cà Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy; 6University Paris Descartes, Department of Hepatology, Hospital Cochin, APHP and INSERM UMS-20, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France; 7Department of Gastroenterology, Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Central, Lisbon, Portugal; 8Department of Infectious Diseases, AO Ospedale Niguarda Cà Granda, Milan, Italy; 9Liver Unit, Hospital Universitario La Paz, CIBERehd, Madrid, Spain; 10Liver Institute of Virginia, Bon Secours Health System, Richmond, VA, USA; 11Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Ridgefield, CT, USA; 12Boehringer Ingelheim Ltd/Ltée, Burlington, ON, Canada; 13Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, Biberach, Germany; 14Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA Abstract: The interferon-free combination of once-daily faldaprevir 120 mg, twice-daily deleobuvir 600 mg, and weight-based ribavirin was evaluated in two Phase III studies (HCVerso1, HCVerso2) in hepatitis C virus genotype-1b-infected, treatment-naïve patients, including those ineligible for peginterferon (HCVerso2). Patients without cirrhosis were randomized to 16 weeks (Arm 1; n=208 HCVerso1, n=213 HCVerso2) or 24 weeks (Arm 2; n=211 in both studies) of faldaprevir + deleobuvir + ribavirin. Patients with compensated cirrhosis received open-label faldaprevir + deleobuvir + ribavirin for 24 weeks (Arm 3; n=51, n=72). Primary endpoints were comparisons of adjusted sustained virologic response (SVR) rates with historical rates: 71% (HCVerso1) and 68% (HCVerso2). Adjusted SVR12 rates were significantly greater than historical controls for Arms 1 and 2 in HCVerso2 (76%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 71–81, P=0.002; 81%, 95% CI 76–86, P