HIV/AIDS patients carrying the monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 mutated allele have a better response to protease inhibitor treatment.

“Antiretroviral drug efficacy has been widely studied in relation to viral factors. Mutations in the HIV coreceptors and their natural chemokines, however, may be critical in HIV infection and treatment response.

“We compared the efficacy of protease inhibitor (PI) treatment among PI-naive patients grouped according to whether they carried the chemokine CC motif receptor 2 (CCR-2) 64I and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1)-2518G alleles,” researchers in Spain report.

According to B. Coll and colleagues at Hospital University St. Joan in Reus, “HIV-infected patients who were PI-naive were selected for the study (n=164) but there was no restriction on lymphocyte CD4 count or plasma HIV viral load. Follow-up was for the first 24 months of treatment.

“Clinical and laboratory data were obtained every 3 months. All the participants were genotyped for the MCP-1-2518G, CCR-2 64I, CCR-5 Delta 32 and stromal derived factor 1 (SDF1) 3’A mutated alleles.”

“The results indicated that patients carrying the mutated allele of MCP-1 had a higher mean CD4 cell count throughout the follow-up period than those with the common allele (p=0.01).

“Also,” said the authors, “patients with the MCP-1 and CCR-2 mutated alleles were more likely to continue to have an undetectable viral load following treatment (p=0.05).”

Coll concluded, “A better response to PI treatment appears to be conferred by mutations in the host MCP-1 and CCR-2 genes, and may be related to the cellular axis-of-entry used by the retrovirus.”

Coll and colleagues published their study in HIV Medicine (Influence of a monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 mutated allele on the response to protease inhibitor-based antiretroviral therapy. HIV Med, 2006;7(6):356-360).

For additional information, contact B. College, Hospital University of St. Joan, Medical Interna Service, Reus 43201, Spain.

Publisher contact information for the journal HIV Medicine is: Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Rd., Oxford OX4 2DQ, Oxon, England.