Natural prevalence of NS3 gene resistance-associated substitutions (RASs) in patients with chronic hepatitis C from the state of Pará/Brazil

The resistance of hepatitis C virus (HCV) to direct-acting antiviral agents, used in chronic treatment, consists a natural process resulting from resistance-associated substitutions (RASs) at specific amino acid regions. To identify and establish the prevalence RASs NS3 gene patients with state Pará, northern Brazil. Molecular analysis was performed on total 35 infected HCV genotype 1, who were treatment-naive protease inhibitors. RNA extracted plasma region amplified submitted DNA sequencing (Sanger). general 37.5 % (Y56F S122T). Y56F (34.3 %), S122T (3.1 V132I (15.6 %) V170I (9.3 identified. provide inhibitors grazoprevir simeprevir, respectively. All gene, including RASs, identified Pará present other Brazilian studies. presence this study reflects elevated genetic variability HCV.