Use of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors in the HIV population: Implications for individualized treatment selection

摘要

The World Health Organization reports that 34 million people are living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) worldwide. Several global organizations are making concerted efforts to treat and prevent HIV, centered around providing antiretroviral therapy (ART) to those who are infected and those at risk for infection. The first antiretroviral (ARV), zidovudine, was approved in 1987. Zidovudine belongs to the subclass known as nucleoside reverse transcrip-tase inhibitors (NRTIs). Since the advent of zidovudine, additional NRTIs and numerous other classes of ARVs have been introduced to the maisket, including nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), protease inhibitors (Pis), integrase inhibitors, fusion inhibitors, and coreceptor inhibitors. The use of these various classes in combination, known as highly active ART (HAART), provided yet another breakthrough in HIV treatment. In 2008, the Antiretroviral Therapy Cohort Collaboration collected data from several developed countries that showed increased life expectancy for those who began HAART at a CD4+ cell count >200 per microliter of blood.