Evaluation of several serum interleukins as markers for treatment effectiveness in naïve HIV infected patients: A pilot study

PLoS One. 2021 Nov 16;16(11):e0260007. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260007. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

In this observational pilot study, we investigated the impact of Dolutegravir, Raltegravir, Elvitegravir (Integrase Strand Transfer Inhibitors, INSTIs), or boosted Darunavir (a Protease Inhibitor, PI) in combination with two nucleoside reverstranscriptase inhibitors (Emtricitabine/Tenofovir disoproxil or Lamivudine/Tenofovir disoproxil, NRTI) on four interleukins (IL-4, IL-10, IL-13, and IL-21) as immune activation markers in naïve HIV(Human Immunodeficiency Virus)-infected patients during the first six months of combined standard-of-care antiretroviral therapy (cART). Newly diagnosed with HIV-infected subjects and without any disease that could affect the immune activation markers were evaluated. The patients' physicians recommended the cART as standard-of-care and the ILs were measured before cART and six months of cART. The levels of CD4+ T-cells count and CD4+/CD8+ ratio significantly increased at six months (P-value<0.02) regardless of the drugs, INSTIs or PI. However, a CD4+/CD8+ >1 was observed in 25% of patients treated with Raltegravir and half of those treated with Dolutegravir. At six months of cART, viral load was detectable in only 6/31 individuals. IL-21 had an undetectable level in 30/31 patients after six months of cART. Our results suggest the potency in restoring immune markers in HIV-infected patients with all investigated drugs. Dolutegravir showed a tendency to statistically significant changes in IL-4 and IL-10. A clinical trial with random allocation of medication and an extensive follow-up is needed to replicate this research and validate the usefulness of evaluated ILs as markers of cART effectiveness.

Publication types

  • Observational Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Antiviral Agents / administration & dosage*
  • Antiviral Agents / pharmacology
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / blood*
  • Drug Therapy, Combination
  • Female
  • HIV Infections / blood
  • HIV Infections / drug therapy*
  • HIV Infections / immunology
  • HIV Infections / virology
  • HIV-1 / drug effects
  • HIV-1 / physiology
  • Humans
  • Interleukin-10 / blood*
  • Interleukin-17 / blood*
  • Interleukin-4 / blood*
  • Interleukins / blood*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Pilot Projects
  • Prospective Studies
  • Standard of Care
  • Treatment Outcome
  • Viral Load / drug effects
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Antiviral Agents
  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • IL10 protein, human
  • IL17C protein, human
  • IL4 protein, human
  • Interleukin-17
  • Interleukins
  • Interleukin-10
  • Interleukin-4
  • interleukin-21

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Doctoral School of the “Iuliu Haţieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, grant number 160/51/19.01.2018. The funder had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.