Acknowledgements: We thank the patients, nurses, and clinicians who participated in the study. We also thank Egydio Sampaio for support in the recruitment of patients and all INI staff from the blood collection sector. Finally, we are thankful for the CD4+ T cell count and HIV-1 viral load clinical services from the Brazilian Ministry of Health National Network, and the FIOCRUZ PDTIS NGS Platform (RPT01J).Despite the low level of viral replication in HIV controllers (HICs), studies have reported viral mutations related to escape from cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) response in HIV-1 plasma sequences. Thus, evaluating the dynamics of the emergence of CTL-escape mutants in HICs reservoirs is important for understanding viremia control. To analyze the HIV-1 mutational profile and dynamics of CTL-escape mutants in HICs, we selected 11 long-term non-progressor individuals and divided them into the following groups: (1) viremic controllers (VCs; n = 5) and (2) elite controllers (ECs; n = 6). For each individual, we used HIV-1 proviral DNA from PBMCs related to earliest (VE) and latest (VL) visits to obtain gag and nef sequences using the Illumina HiSeq system. The consensus of each mapped gene was used to assess viral divergence, and next-generation sequencing data were employed to identify SNPs and variations within and flanking CTL epitopes.2019-10-30