An Italian study has provided evidence that HIV drugs called protease inhibitors may increase the risk of artery "plaques."
Dr. Paolo Maggi from the University of Bari used ultrasound to study the association between anti-HIV drugs and artery plaques in 293 HIV-infected patients. They looked for plaques in a blood vessel in the neck called the carotid artery. The findings are reported in the medical journal AIDS.
105 patients were treated with regimens that included protease inhibitors. The remaining patients were either treated with regimens that didn't include protease inhibitors or with nothing at all.
On follow-up, 52 percent of patients treated with protease inhibitors displayed plaques on ultrasound. In contrast, the rate among other patients was only about 15 percent. Age, smoking, and immune status all seemed to influence the risk of plaques, but the strongest predictor was the use of protease inhibitors, the authors note.
Protease inhibitor regimens appear to be "major" players in the development of artery plaques, the authors conclude. Additional studies, they say, are needed to clarify exactly how such drugs may cause plaques.
Protease inhibitors used in combination with reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors represent the most effective anti-HIV therapies developed to date. Several studies have reported that combination therapies reduce HIV viral load to undetectable levels for sustained periods of time in up to 90% of patients.