Important note: Information in this article was accurate in September 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.AIDSWEEKLY Plus; September 16, 2002
Michael Greer, Senior Medical Writer
"Entry inhibitors, a new class of antiretroviral agents, interfere with the attachment, coreceptor interaction or fusion of HIV-1 with host target cells," explained Joseph A. Church and colleagues at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Nutley, New Jersey-based Hoffman-La Roche, Trimeris Inc. in Durham, North Carolina, and other institutions in New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Maryland.
Church and coauthors found that T-20, the first entry inhibitor developed, provided viral suppression without significant toxicity to treated pediatric patients.
The researchers evaluated the safety and efficacy of T-20 in a group of 14 children ages 4-12 years, with median viral loads of 4.4 log units (almost 27,000 viral RNA copies/mL). Study participants received T-20 in addition to their regular antiretroviral regimens for 24 weeks, they said, with those regimens altered on day 7 based on viral susceptibility data.
Ten of the 14 children treated with T-20 achieved viral load reductions of at least 1 log unit, study data showed. Six patients carried viral loads of 400 copies/mL or lower after 24 weeks of T-20 therapy, and three children showed undetectable HIV RNA levels after treatment.
No side effects were reported, except for local reactions to the subcutaneous (sc) injections used to deliver T-20 (Safety and antiretroviral activity of chronic subcutaneous administration of T-20 in human immunodeficiency virus 1-infected children. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2002 Jul;21(7):653-659.
"These results indicate that a 24-week regimen of twice daily sc dosing of T-20 in HIV-1-infected children is safe and tolerable," Church and colleagues concluded, "and that it is associated with suppression of HIV-1 replication during 24 weeks of administration."
The corresponding author for this report is Dr. Joseph A. Church, Division of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, 4650 Sunset Boulevard, Mail Stop 75, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA. E-mail: jchurch@chla.usc.edu.
A search at www.NewsRx.net using the search term "AIDS and HIV therapy" yielded 1,193 articles in 29 specialized reports.
Key points reported in this study include:
This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.
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