Method and kit for detecting resistance to antiviral drugs

A method for the detection of multiple nucleoside analog resistance of a retrovirus comprising:

• incubating the retrovirus with a reverse transcriptase inhibitor antiviral drug that is a nucleoside analog, an RNA template, and a first functionally complementary DNA primer;
• and
• detecting the relative presence or relative absence of a first DNA product, wherein the detection of the first DNA product indicates resistance to the drug.

The method of 20 wherein the second complementary DNA primer is an oligonucleotide having the sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:

• 1.

A method for characterizing strains of HIV-1 or HIV-2 as being MNR mutants and as being distinct from wild-type or classical reverse transcriptase mutant strains, comprising:

• incubating a strain of HIV-1 with a 5′-triphosphate version of a reverse transcriptase inhibitor antiviral drug, an RNA template, and a first complementary DNA primer, and
• detecting the relative presence or relative absence of a first DNA product, wherein the detection of the first DNA product indicates that the strain of HIV-1 is an MNR mutant strain and is neither a wild-type nor a classical reverse transcriptase mutant strain.

A method for identifying the presence of retrovirus strains with mutations that confer multiple nucleoside analog resistance, comprising:

• incubating a sample suspected of containing retrovirus with a reverse transcriptase inhibitor antiviral drug wherein the drug is a nucleoside analog, an RNA template;
• and
• detecting the relative presence or relative absence of a first DNA product, wherein the detection of the first DNA product indicates the presence of retrovirus strains having multiple nucleoside analog resistance.