ArticleResearch square2026
Circulating plasma microRNA expression profiles associated with virological failure and HIV drug resistance among adults receiving second-line protease inhibitor-based antiretroviral therapy in Zimbabwe.
Article in Research square, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Background: Virological failure (VF) and HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) remain major challenges to antiretroviral therapy (ART). Plasma viral load (VL) cannot distinguish adherence-related failure from HIVDR, while genotypic resistance testing (GRT) is limited by cost. Circulating plasma microRNAs (miRNAs) may provide complementary host-response markers for monitoring HIV treatment outcomes. We evaluated the expression and discriminatory performance of three miRNAs (hsa-miR-146a-5p, hsa-miR-150-5p, hsa-miR-29a-3p) among adults on protease inhibitor-based second-line ART in Zimbabwe. Methods: We conducted a multicentre cross-sectional study (January 2023-August 2025) among adults receiving second-line ART for ≥ 12 months. Participants were classified as virologically suppressed (VS; VL < 1 000 copies/mL) or experiencing VF (VL ≥ 1 000 copies/mL). Individuals with VF underwent GRT and were classified as VF without resistance (VF-NR) or with confirmed resistance (VF-R). Plasma miRNA expression was quantified using reverse transcription quantitative PCR. Discriminatory performance was assessed using receiver operating characteristic analysis with bootstrap validation, and independent associations using multivariable logistic regression. Results: Among 119 participants (40 VS, 33 VF-NR and 46 VF-R), miR-146a-5p expression increased, whereas miR-150-5p and miR-29a-3p declined progressively from VS to VF-R. The combined panel discriminated VF (AUC = 0.893) better than individual biomarkers (ΔAUC = 0.125, P < 0.001) and showed moderate discrimination of HIVDR (AUC = 0.769). Higher miR-146a-5p expression was associated with increased odds of VF and HIVDR, while higher miR-150-5p expression was associated with reduced odds of both outcomes. Conclusions: A circulating plasma miRNA panel showed promising discrimination of VF and moderate discrimination of HIVDR. These findings support further evaluation of host-response miRNA signatures as complementary tools for VF stratification and prioritisation of confirmatory HIVDR testing.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.