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The impact of remdesivir on SARS-CoV-2 evolution in vivo
Ted Ling-Hu, Lacy M. Simons, Estefany Rios-Guzman, Alexandre Machado Carvalho, Maria Francesca R. Agnes, Arghavan Alisoltanidehkordi, Egon A. Ozer, Ramon Lorenzo-Redondo, Judd F. Hultquist
Ted Ling-Hu, Lacy M. Simons, Estefany Rios-Guzman, Alexandre Machado Carvalho, Maria Francesca R. Agnes, Arghavan Alisoltanidehkordi, Egon A. Ozer, Ramon Lorenzo-Redondo, Judd F. Hultquist
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Research Article COVID-19 Therapeutics

The impact of remdesivir on SARS-CoV-2 evolution in vivo

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Abstract

The impact of remdesivir on SARS-CoV-2 diversity and evolution in vivo has remained unclear. In this single-center, retrospective cohort study, we assessed SARS-CoV-2 diversification and diversity over time in a cohort of hospitalized patients who did or did not receive remdesivir. Whole-genome sequencing was performed on 98 paired specimens collected from 49 patients before and after remdesivir administration. The genetic divergence between paired specimens was not significantly different in this cohort compared with that in a control group of patients who did not receive the drug. However, when we focused on minority variants, several positions showed preferential diversification after remdesivir treatment, some of which were associated with specific variants of concern. Most notably, remdesivir administration resulted in strong selection for a nonsynonymous mutation in nsp12, G671S, previously associated with enhanced viral fitness. This same mutation was found to be enriched in a second cohort of 143 inpatients with specimens collected after remdesivir administration compared with controls. Only one other mutation previously implicated in remdesivir resistance (nsp12:V792I) was found to be preferentially selected for after remdesivir administration. These data suggest that SARS-CoV-2 variants with enhanced replicative fitness may be selected for in the presence of antiviral therapy as an indirect means to overcome this selective pressure.

Authors

Ted Ling-Hu, Lacy M. Simons, Estefany Rios-Guzman, Alexandre Machado Carvalho, Maria Francesca R. Agnes, Arghavan Alisoltanidehkordi, Egon A. Ozer, Ramon Lorenzo-Redondo, Judd F. Hultquist

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Figure 5

Comparison of nsp12 mutational frequency in patients who received remdesivir compared with a control cohort.

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Comparison of nsp12 mutational frequency in patients who received remdes...
(A) Timeline of specimen collection for each patient in each cohort relative to hospitalization. The dotted line indicates the hospitalization date, and the “X” (dark orange) indicates remdesivir administration date. (B) Overlaid histogram and distribution curves of the days between sample collection and hospitalization date for each cohort. (C) SARS-CoV-2 N1 Ct values for post specimens in each cohort as determined by qRT-PCR. Box-and-whisker plots represent the median (center line) and first/third quartiles (box), with tails extending 1.5 times the IQR. Statistical analysis was conducted using the Mann-Whitney U test, with P values indicated. (D) Shannon entropy across the genome of each isolate. Statistical analysis was conducted using a linear model while controlling for time between samples, viral load, and clade. (E) Mutational frequency at positions in nsp12 previously implicated in remdesivir resistance relative to the Wuhan-Hu-1 reference genome in the post specimen–only cohorts. Two additional positions identified from the analyses in Figure 4 are visualized on the right. Box-and-whisker plots represent the median (center line) and first/third quartiles (box), with tails extending 1.5 times the IQR. Only specimens with greater than 1% mutational frequency at a given position are shown (positions that were not detected are indicated as “ND”). (F) Shannon entropy at the same nucleotide positions as in E in the post specimen–only cohorts. Box-and-whisker plots represent the median (center line) and first/third quartiles (box), with tails extending 1.5 times the IQR. Statistical analysis was conducted using a linear model while controlling for time between samples and viral load (except for position 21771, which had too few data points to fit a model that also included viral load).

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