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HIV metabolic disease in lipodystropic patients includes changes in fat tissue that are associated with insulin resistance, hypertriglyceridemia, and increased cardiovascular risk. Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) have been shown to contribute to lipodystrophy by inhibiting mitochondrial DNA replication and transcription in fat tissue and adipocytes. Novel data from two recent studies show that immune activation and protease inhibitors (PIs) can also affect mitochondrial function.
In a cross-sectional study aimed at characterizing the effects of HIV infection and antiretroviral therapy (ART) in adipose tissue, muscle, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), Morse and colleagues compared mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) an…