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- Antiretroviral Drug - A drug that is used to fight a retrovirus like HIV.
- Assay - Another word for a laboratory test. (example: HIV drug resistance assay)
- CD4 T Cell Count - A test used to monitor the immune system in people with HIV.
- Cross Resistance - When resistance to one drug causes resistance to another drug of the same type.
- Drug Resistance - When a virus is able to adapt, grow, and multiply in the presence of drugs designed to kill it.
- Entry Inhibitor - A type of antiretroviral drug designed to stop HIV from entering cells in the immune system. [example: FUZEON® (enfuvirtide) T-20]
- Fold Change - In phenotypic testing, fold change is the degree of difference in sensitivity between wild-type virus and the patient virus.
- Genotype - The genetic makeup of a living thing; by identifying the genotype of HIV using a genotypic resistance test, drug resistance can be predicted.
- Genotypic Resistance Test - A test that predicts drug resistance by identifying mutations in the genotype of a person's virus.
- Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) - Treatment which combines three or more antiretroviral drugs with the goal of reducing viral load to undetectable levels.
- Hypersusceptibility - In phenotypic testing, when a person's virus is more sensitive to a drug than wild-type virus.
- IC50 (Inhibitory Concentration 50%) - In phenotypic testing, IC50 is the amount of a particular drug needed to slow the growth of HIV by 50%.
- Mutation - A genetic change in HIV that often occurs when a person is taking antiretroviral drugs, allowing the virus to be drug resistant.
- Non-nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor (NNRTI) - A type of antiretroviral drug designed to block the reverse transcriptase enzyme, but not of a nucleoside chemical structure. [example: Sustiva™ (efavirenz) EFV]
- Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor (NRTI) - A type of antiretroviral drug designed to block the reverse transcriptase enzyme. [example: Ziagen™ (abacavir) ABC]
- Phenotype - The physical result or expression of the genotype. By identifying the phenotype of HIV using a phenotypic resistance test, a person's sensitivity to antiretroviral drugs can be measured.
- Phenotypic Cutoff - A standard used in phenotypic testing that identifies when a drug begins to lose effectiveness.
- Phenotypic Resistance Test - A test that directly measures the sensitivity of HIV to antiretroviral drugs.
- Protease - An enzyme in HIV responsible for breaking the HIV viral protein strand into smaller pieces that are needed to form a new, mature virus.
- Protease Inhibitor (PI) - A type of antiretroviral drug designed to stop the protease enzyme from working. [example: Crixivan™ (indinavir) IDV]
- Replication Capacity - The ability of HIV to make copies of itself.
- Reverse Transcriptase - An enzyme in HIV responsible for translating HIV RNA into DNA.
- Structured Treatment Interruption (STI) - A planned period during which a person stops taking all antiretroviral drugs.
- Susceptibility - Sensitivity to antiretroviral drugs.
- Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) - The use of laboratory tests to measure the amount of antiretroviral drug in a person's bloodstream.
- Treatment-experienced - Description for people who have already received drugs for the treatment of HIV.
- Treatment-naïve - Description for people who have never been treated with drugs for HIV.
- Viral Fitness - A term describing how well a virus can grow, multiply and thrive in a certain environment. Replication Capacity is a part of viral fitness.
- Viral Load - The amount of HIV in a person's blood.
- Virtual Phenotype - A type of genotypic resistance test that predicts resistance by comparing a person's genotype to a database of phenotype-genotype matches.
- Wild-type Virus - A term used to describe a strain of HIV that does not contain drug resistance mutations.
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Submit your questions to our resident expert. And refer to sample questions to begin a dialogue with your healthcare provider. |
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| Is an HIV drug resistance test right for you? If so, which kind? Click here |
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Find out what HIV experts say about resistance testing.
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| How has testing affected your HIV therapy? Click here |
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