---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: PlusNews <[email protected]> Date: Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 5:32 PM Subject: HIV/AIDS: Older ARVs associated with premature ageing To: Jean-Francois Darcq <[email protected]>
HIV/AIDS: Older ARVs associated with premature ageing NAIROBI, 27 June 2011 (PLUSNEWS) - Certain antiretroviral (ARV) drugs commonly used in the developing world may be responsible for premature ageing, according to the authors of a new study [ http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ng.863.html ] published in the journal, Nature Genetics. Newer, less toxic but more expensive ARVs are more commonly used in the Western world. Nucleoside analogue reverse-transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) - including Zidovudine, Lamivudine and Abacavir - have enabled millions of people living with HIV to prolong their lives. The UN World Health Organization has recommended that countries phase out Stavudine, an NRTI commonly used in Africa, [ http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2009/world_aids_20091130/en/index.html ] due to long-term, irreversible side effects. "We noticed that people in their 40s who had been on NRTIs for the past several years had signatures of ageing in their muscles commonly found in healthy people in their 70s and 80s," said Prof Patrick Chinnery of the University of Newcastle in the UK, one of the study's lead authors. The researchers studied skeletal muscle from 33 HIV-infected adults, all aged 50 years or under, and 10 uninfected control subjects of comparable age. They found that in patients on NRTI treatment there was an expansion in mutations of mitochondrial DNA - the energy-producing part of the cell - similar to the mutations found in healthy older individuals. "What we saw in our study is similar to patterns described by people who have been on ART [antiretroviral therapy] for a long time," said Chinnery. Studies have found that despite a significant drop in mortality, people living with HIV are often affected by an increased risk of non-AIDS complications, including osteoporosis and heart attacks, [ http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/731966_2 ] which undermine their life-expectancy. "The findings suggest that we need to look carefully at the effects of these drugs because some of the diseases caused by the abnormalities - diabetes, heart failure and so on - are serious and can cause progressive disability," Chinnery noted. "But at the same time, clearly the patients need their drugs in order to keep them alive... but our study suggests that it may be beneficial to move to newer classes of drugs." Chinnery said there was a need to conduct prospective studies on the likely effects of long-term use of different ARVs in order to catch and address potentially harmful side effects. kr/he[END] This report online: http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=93080 Follow us on Twitter! http://twitter.com/plusnews © IRIN. All rights reserved. HIV/AIDS news and analysis: http://www.plusnews.org/ [This item comes to you from PlusNews, part of IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States. Reposting or reproduction, with attribution, for non-commercial purposes is permitted. Terms and conditions: http://www.irinnews.org/copyright.aspx Principal IRIN/PlusNews donors: UAE, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, UNEP and the IHC. More information: http://www.irinnews.org/donors.aspx This mail is from an automatic address. Contact PlusNews at: [email protected]. Revise/stop your subscription: http://bit.ly/9nCoUP ] Subscribed email: [email protected] -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
