Cumulative effects of hypertriglyceridemia in HIV-infected patients switching from NNRTIs to PI-based antiretroviral therapy.

INTRODUCTION

The objective of this study was to investigate changes in serum lipids among HIV-infected patients switching from non-nucleoside-reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI) to protease inhibitor (PI)-based highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), and to determine if changes of lipid profiles impacted the monocyte subsets recovery.

METHODOLOGY

Fifty-seven subjects who switched from NNRTIs to PI-based HAART (NNRTIs to PI group) and fifty-five subjects who initially started with PI-based HAART (initial PI group) were recruited. According to their baseline triglyceride (TG) levels, the NNRTIs to PI and initial PI groups were further divided into non-hypertriglyceridemia and hypertriglyceridemia subgroups, respectively. The effects of PI-based HAART on lipid profiles and monocyte subsets were analyzed.

RESULTS

At 48 weeks, the TG changes in the NNRTIs to PI group was higher than that of the initial PI group. The increases of serum TG levels in the initial PI non-hypertriglyceridemia group was greater than that of the NNRTIs to PI non-hypertriglyceridemia group. For the hypertriglyceridemia group at baseline, significant increment in TG levels were observed in the NNRTIs to PI hypertriglyceridemia group. The percentages of circulating CD14highCD16+ and CD14lowCD16+ subsets were elevated in the two groups. At 48 weeks, the proportion of CD14highCD16+ monocytes declined gradually, and the proportion of CD14lowCD16+ monocytes decreased independently of the TG level.

CONCLUSIONS

For non-hypertriglyceridemia individuals at baseline, PI-based regimens increased the TG level in the initial PI group. For the NNRTIs to PI hypertriglyceridemia group, PI-based regimens reinforced HAART-related hypertriglyceridemia.