A Link Is Identified Between Antiretrovirals and Lipid Problems

Researchers from Emory University in Atlanta and the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center have used a lipid biomarker to show that antiretroviral drugs are associated with higher levels of fats in the blood. Apolipoprotein C-III (ApoC-III) is a newly identified biomarker of lipid metabolism in the body, metabolism that produces elevated levels of triglycerides. In two separate studies the researchers determined that patients treated with nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors or protease inhibitors were more likely to have higher ApoC-III levels than HIV-positive patients not taking anti-HIV drugs. Correspondingly, those patients had higher triglyceride levels. 'This suggests that patients undergoing HIV therapy have impaired metabolism of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins,' says researcher Carlos del Rio.