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Protease inhibitor therapy increases underlying genetic risk of diabetes for women with HIV
Michael Carter, 2014-07-01 10:00:00
Treatment with an antiretroviral regimen based on a protease inhibitor magnifies any underlying genetic susceptibility to diabetes for women with HIV, investigators report in the online edition of AIDS. In non-African American women, treatment with two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) and a protease inhibitor significantly increased the diabetes risk associated with five genes. Protease inhibitor-based therapy increased the diabetes risk associated with one gene (or alle) by a factor of two.
“Carrying known European-derived diabetes mellitus risk alleles was associated with substantially increased risk of diabetes mellitus among non-African American HIV-infected women treated with cART [combination antiretroviral therapy], containing at least three components from the NRTI and protease inhibitor classes,” comment the authors. “Whereas these variants are associated with a modest 10-35% increased risk of diabetes mellitus among White and Hispanic general populations, the magnitude of increased risk was 60-170% per risk alle among HIV-infected non-African American women taking these cART regimens.”
The investigators believe their findings support “more personalized approaches to HIV treatment” that takes into account the underlying genetic risk of diabetes.
Type 2-diabetes is an increasingly important cause of serious illness among people with HIV. Antiretroviral treatment, especially therapy based on a protease inhibitor, has consistently been associated with increased incidence of diabetes.
In the general non-African American population, certain genes have been shown to increase the risk of type-2 diabetes by between 20-70%. Investigators from the Women’s Interagency Study (WIHS) wanted to see if antiretroviral therapy magnified the diabetes risk associated with these genes.
They therefore designed a study involving 969 HIV-positive women who received care after 1995. None had diabetes at baseline. Data on the incidence of type-2 diabetes and use of antiretroviral treatment were collected. The women were screened for the presence of 14 genes associated with elevated diabetes risk. The investigators analysed the association between HIV treatment type, genetic profile and diabetes incidence.
Genetic susceptibility to diabetes varies according to race/ethnicity. Therefore analyses were performed separately for non-African Americans (Whites, Hispanics, Asians and others) and African Americans.
The study population consisted of 378 non-African Americans and 591 African Americans. Forty-nine patients in each racial/ethnic group developed incidence type-2 diabetes.
Nine of the 14 genes were associated with risk of incident type-2 diabetes. There was statistical heterogeneity across these genes (p < 0.05).
One gene (TCF7L2 rs7903146) was associated with a reduced risk of diabetes for women taking two NRTIs and a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI).
Five genes were significantly associated with incident type-2 diabetes for women taking two or more NRTIs and a protease inhibitor.
The IGF2BP2 rs1470579 gene was especially associated with elevated diabetes risk. For women taking two NRTI/protease inhibitor therapy, each additional copy of the gene increased the risk of diabetes more than two-fold (HR = 2.46; 95% CI, 1.08-5.53). The gene was also associated with an increased risk of diabetes for those treated with three NRTIs, with or without an NNRTI (HR = 2.67 per alle; 95% CI, 1.67-4.31).
The other genes associated with elevated diabetes risk for women taking two NRTIs and a protease inhibitor were:
- CDKAL1 rs7754840
- CDKN2A/B rs564398
- CDKN2A/B rs10811661
- FTO rs8050136
These findings only applied to patients of non-African American descent. For African American women, the JAZF rs864745 alle was modestly protective against diabetes for those taking two NRTIs with an NNRTI as well as individuals who were not receiving combination antiretroviral therapy. No other relationships between genetic profile, antiretroviral therapy and diabetes risk were present for African American patients.
“Our results suggest the NNRTI-based regimen may be preferred for non-African Americans with genetic predisposition for diabetes mellitus. Given that the alternative regimen of two NRTIs and one or more protease inhibitors substantially increases the diabetes mellitus risk in those with an underlying genetic predisposition,” conclude the authors.
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