Human cytomegalovirus pUL97 drug-resistance mutations in congenitally neonates and HIV-infected, no-drug-treated patients

Aim: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) treatment is hard to achieve because of viral protein target sequence variations. Objectives: We aimed to find HCMV pUL97 kinase variations in HIV- and congenitally infected patients. Methods: Twenty HCMV-positive DNA samples from nonganciclovir treated congenitally infected neonates and HIV positive patients were used for PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism. Variations were assessed computationally for pUL97 functionality. Results: P521L, D605E and N597Y substitutions were prevalent significantly in congenital infection. Furthermore, we found those mutations have neutral or low impact on pUL97 functionality. In addition, we found a new K599Q substitution in an HIV-infected individual. Conclusion: More prevalent substitutions related to low-grade ganciclovir resistance were found in congenitally infected neonates in comparison with HIV-infected patients.