Control Survey of HIV-1 Genotypic Drug-resistance Testing in Japan

Abstract

Objective: Most laboratories in Japan are performing the HIV-1 genotypic drug-resistance testing with their in-house methods based on the one developed by National Institute of Infectious Diseases. However, the quality of their methods has never been assessed. In this study, we aimed to investigate the accuracy and reliability of the testing performed in 15 laboratories in Japan.
Materials and Methods: We assessed the accuracy and reliability of the in-house testing by sending two standard HIV-1 RNA samples to 15 voluntarily participating laboratories and by analyzing the reported results.
Results: The assessment revealed that the quality of HIV-1 genotypic drug-resistance testing was very high (97.3% accuracy). But there were sources of error, including human errors, poor electrophoregrams, and use of inadequate primers.
Conclusion: We proposed troubleshooting procedures to improve the quality of drugresistance testing in Japan.