Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases and Hepatology, Medical University of Warsaw, Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Warsaw, 02-091 Warszawa, Poland.
Students' Science Society of the Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases and Hepatology, Medical University of Warsaw, 02-091 Warszawa, Poland.
Viruses. 2022 Mar 11;14(3):578. doi: 10.3390/v14030578.
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus and retroviral therapy are both known risk factors for cardiovascular disease. It remains an open question whether HIV or ARV leads to increased arterial inflammation. The objective of this study was to investigate the changes in endothelial activation by measuring VCAM-1 levels among HIV-infected patients who were and were not treated with antiretroviral therapy. It is a retrospective study that included 68 HIV-infected patients, 23 of whom were never antiretroviral-treated, 15 who were ART-treated for no longer than a year, and 30 who were ART-treated for longer than a year. Blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis of the concentration of VCAM-1. The results show a statistically lower VCAM-1 level ( = 0.007) in patients treated with ART longer than a year (1442 ng/mL) in comparison to treatment-naïve patients (2392 ng/mL). The average VCAM-1 level in patients treated no longer than a year (1552 ng/mL) was also lower than in treatment-naïve patients, but with no statistical significance ( = 0.096). Long-term antiretroviral therapy was associated with the decline of VCAM-1 concentration. That may suggest the lowering of endothelial activation and the decreased risk of the development of cardiovascular disease among ARV-treated patients. However, VCAM-1 may not be a sufficient factor itself to assess this, since simultaneously there are a lot of well-known cardiovascular-adverse effects of ART.
人类免疫缺陷病毒和逆转录病毒疗法都是心血管疾病的已知危险因素。HIV 还是 ARV 导致动脉炎症增加，这仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。本研究的目的是通过测量 HIV 感染患者中 VCAM-1 水平来研究内皮细胞激活的变化，这些患者接受或未接受抗逆转录病毒治疗。这是一项回顾性研究，共纳入 68 例 HIV 感染患者，其中 23 例从未接受过抗逆转录病毒治疗，15 例接受抗逆转录病毒治疗时间不超过 1 年，30 例接受抗逆转录病毒治疗时间超过 1 年。采集血样进行 VCAM-1 浓度的生化分析。结果显示，长期接受 ART 治疗（超过 1 年）的患者 VCAM-1 水平（=0.007）明显低于未接受治疗的患者（2392ng/mL）（1442ng/mL）。接受治疗时间不超过 1 年的患者的平均 VCAM-1 水平（1552ng/mL）也低于未接受治疗的患者，但无统计学意义（=0.096）。长期抗逆转录病毒治疗与 VCAM-1 浓度下降有关。这可能表明接受 ARV 治疗的患者内皮细胞激活降低，心血管疾病发展的风险降低。然而，VCAM-1 本身可能不是评估这一点的充分因素，因为同时存在许多众所周知的抗逆转录病毒治疗的心血管不良影响。
