Current HIV Research - Volume 7, Issue 5, 2009

In June 2007, the European Medicines Agency announced the recall by Roche of nelfinavir from European Union markets because of contamination of tablets with ethyl mesylate. Based on this event, we investigated the effect of switching therapy because of nelfinavir recall or for other reasons on the perception of therapy benefits and adherence to treatment in HIV-infected children and their caregivers. Thirty-eight children (m Read More

Acute appendicitis as a manifestation of the immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome is repeatedly discussed in the literature, but only a few cases of acute appendicitis associated with the initiation of cART have been published as yet. We describe a case of a young HIV-infected man who suffered from acute appendicitis early after the successful switch of a failing cART regimen.

Cerebrovascular disease (CVD) has early been recognized in HIV-infected patients, including infectious arteritis, inflammatory vasculitis, aneurismal and small-vessel arteriopathy, to which adds now the premature atherosclerotic cerebral arteriopathy associated with the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART)-induced metabolic disorders. As a result of the increased life-expectancy associated with HAART, HIV pati Read More

The prevalence of diabetes in the United States is rising. As HIV-infected people live longer, they become more susceptible to chronic diseases such as diabetes. Additionally, some antiretroviral agents have been linked to impaired glucose tolerance and increased diabetes risk. To estimate the burden and trends of diabetes among hospitalized HIV-infected persons in the United States, we used data from the 1994-2004 Nationwi Read More

In the absence of effective treatment, infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) ultimately leads to the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Many attempts have been made to prevent and attenuate HIV infection. While antiretroviral therapies for infected individuals have had great success, preventative and therapeutic vaccines focused on both humoral and cell-mediated immunity have failed. Recen Read More

A current debate in the HIV-1 vaccine field concerns the ability of an immunodeficiency virus to elicit a protective response. One argument is that HIV-1 superinfections are frequent in healthy individuals, because virus evades conventional immune surveillance, a serious obstacle to vaccine design. The opposing argument is that protection from superinfection is significant, reflecting a robust immune response that might be Read More

Chronic infection by herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) increases HIV susceptibility, perhaps due to HSV-2- associated increases in activated mucosal immune cells. A small number of Kenyan female sex workers (FSWs) exhibit relative HIV resistance. We examined whether relative HIV resistance was related to differences in the prevalence or mucosal immune impact of HSV-2. Participants were recruited from an open c Read More

HIV-1 exerts its most profound effects through destruction of the host's immune responses specifically through targeting of the T-lymphocyte populations. In addition to its primary immune target, HIV-1 also targets cells of the nervous, skeletal and vascular system. There is emerging evidence to suggest that HIV-1 may, in part at least, affect these diverse tissues by impairing the homeostatic production of terminally di Read More

The vpr gene of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) plays an important role in the pathogenicity of viruses. Previous studies showed that mutation of certain sites in HIV-1 Vpr amino acid sequences might influence the clinical process of infected individuals and attenuate its apoptosis-inducing capacity on infected cells. The present study was designed to transfect hela cells with several HIV-1 vpr fragments carrying spe Read More

To report long-term data on safety and effectiveness of antiretroviral regimens, including nevirapine. HIV-1- infected patients who received nevirapine-based approaches for at least 4 years were identified in the databases of five centers and included in a retrospective cohort study. Data collected included plasma HIV-RNA (viral load) and CD4+ Tcell counts, lipid and liver function tests, at baseline, 2-year and > 4-year time Read More

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) is involved in obesity and in some components of the metabolic syndrome in unselected population. To determine whether PPARγ genetic variants are associated with the risk of developing lipodystrophy and its associated metabolic disturbances in HIV-1-infected patients treated with HAART and to assess PPARγ mRNA expression in subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT). Read More

Several reports have indicated that patients with low CD4+ cell count could be at a higher risk for arterial lesions or cardiovascular disease (CVD). Recently, current use of abacavir has been associated with an excess risk of CVD. High sensitivity-C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 levels were high for patients receiving the drug. These data lead to the hypothesis that alternative mechanisms may be at work other than those lin Read More

In order to evaluate consistency and comparability of lipid reporting in antiretroviral treatment (ART) studies, 25 ART trials cited in the Department of Health and Human Services Guidelines were analyzed. Changes in lipids from a separate clinical cohort initiating ART were presented using different approaches to illustrate impact of various methods. Most trials presented lipids as the proportion of graded laboratory toxicities Read More

To assess the usage, knowledge and attitudes of Patients Living with HIV with respect to supplements. A questionnaire was mailed to people living with HIV via HIV/AIDS organizations in Ontario and distributed to those attending the HIV-clinic of the University Health Network. The survey was completed by 312 subjects (95 female, 207 male). Self-rated health status was considered fair/good in 77.5% and excellent in 15.4% of Read More

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a major public health problem worldwide. This study was performed to explore the feasibility of vertical transmission of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) gag gene via oocyte. The recombinant plasmid (pIRES2-EGFP-gag) was injected into mouse ovaries to transfect germ cells. Induction of superovulation and then animal mating were performed to collect oocytes and t Read More