Conflicts
of interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. “
“Cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis are common in HIV-infected patients and residual systemic inflammation PD-0332991 datasheet is thought to contribute to both of these disorders. We performed a randomized placebo-controlled trial of omega-3-acid (O3A) ethyl esters in HIV-infected patients with hypertriglyceridaemia, hypothesizing that O3A would decrease serum levels of triglycerides, markers of systemic inflammation, and markers of bone turnover. HIV-infected patients (n = 48 recruited at three sites) with CD4 count >200 cells/μL, suppressed viral load, and triglycerides >200 mg/dL were randomized to placebo or 3.6 g/d of O3A. Fasting lipid profiles and markers of inflammation and bone turnover were assessed at baseline and after 8 weeks of treatment. Baseline HIV status, lipid profile, bone metabolism and cardiovascular risk factors were similar between the groups. Inflammatory markers were similar between the treatment groups at baseline, except for interleukin (IL)-6 and tumour
necrosis factor (TNF)-α, which were higher in the O3A group. The concentration of triglycerides in PCI-32765 supplier patients receiving O3A decreased by a median (interquartile range (IQR)) of −34 (−149, 9.5) mg/dL vs. a median increase of 46.5 (−51, 123) mg/dL in the placebo group (P = 0.01). The median percentage change in IL-6 was greater clonidine in the O3A group compared with the placebo group [−39% (−63, 12%) vs. 29% (10, 177%), respectively; P = 0.006]. Similar results were observed for TNF-α, but
not other inflammatory or bone turnover markers. O3A ethyl esters decreased the concentrations of triglycerides, IL-6 and TNF-α in patients with well-controlled HIV infection and hypertriglyceridaemia. Larger studies are required to confirm these findings and investigate their clinical significance. “
“Pegylated-interferon/ribavirin dual therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has a lower sustained virological response (SVR) rate in HIV/HCV-coinfected patients than in HCV monoinfected patients, but little is known about the relative effectiveness of teleprevir-based triple therapy in the two groups. Data on 33 coinfected and 116 monoinfected patients were analysed on an intention-to-treat basis. SVR12 was defined as undetectable HCV RNA at week 12 post-end-of-treatment, severe anaemia as haemoglobin ≤ 89 g/L or a drop of ≥ 45 g/L, and advanced fibrosis/cirrhosis as Fib-4 ≥ 3.25. All coinfected patients had well controlled HIV infection. The groups were similar in age, gender, percentage with Fib-4 ≥ 3.25 and HCV viral load, but differed in previous treatment response, with more coinfected patients being nonresponders or treatment-intolerant (75.8% vs. 50.0% for monoinfected patients; P < 0.01).