BACKGROUND Abacavir hypersensitivity in genetically susceptible individuals implicates an abacavir-specific T-cell response to either the parent drug or a metabolite generated in vivo. We have analysed the cytokine profile in antigen-presenting cells and the T-lymphocytes that are involved in the pathological immune response to abacavir. METHODS In this study, we compared abacavir-specific cy...

Abacavir hypersensitivity is a severe hypersensitivity reaction which occurs exclusively in carriers of the HLA-B*57∶01 allele. In vitro culture of PBMC with abacavir results in the outgrowth of abacavir-reacting CD8+ T cells, which release IFNγ and are cytotoxic. How this immune response is induced and what is recognized by these T cells is still a matter of debate. We analyzed the conditions ...

BACKGROUND Hypersensitivity reaction to abacavir is strongly associated with the presence of the HLA-B*5701 allele. This study was designed to establish the effectiveness of prospective HLA-B*5701 screening to prevent the hypersensitivity reaction to abacavir. METHODS This double-blind, prospective, randomized study involved 1956 patients from 19 countries, who were infected with human immuno...

OBJECTIVE(S) To examine the impact of ribavirin and abacavir coadministration on hepatitis C virus (HCV) virological response and trough ribavirin plasma concentration (Cmin) in HIV-HCV coinfected patients. DESIGN Pharmacokinetic substudy on patients from the ANRS CO-13 HEPAVIH cohort. METHODS Patients receiving ribavirin-pegylated interferon for whom a ribavirin steady state Cmin was prosp...

BACKGROUND The use of abacavir--a potent HIV-1 nucleoside-analogue reverse-transcriptase inhibitor--is complicated by a potentially life-threatening hypersensitivity syndrome in about 5% of cases. Genetic factors influencing the immune response to abacavir might confer susceptibility. We aimed to find associations between MHC alleles and abacavir hypersensitivity in HIV-1-positive individuals t...

Susceptibility to a clinically significant drug hypersensitivity syndrome associated with abacavir use seems to have a strong genetic component. We have previously shown that the presence of HLA-B*5701 strongly predicts abacavir hypersensitivity and have identified a potential susceptibility locus within a 300-kb region between the MEGT1 and C4A6 loci in the central MHC. We now report the resul...

METHODS. Individual patients were randomly assigned to undergo prospective HLA-B*5701 screening, with exclusion of previously known HLA-B*5701 positive patients from abacavir treatment, or to undergo a standard approach of abacavir use without screening. All subjects who started abacavir were observed for 6 weeks, the time frame in which a large majority of hypersensitivity reactions occur. The...

Abacavir-induced liver toxicity is a rare event almost exclusively occurring in HLA B*5701-positive patients. Herein, we report one case of abnormal liver function tests occurring in a young HLA B*5701-negative woman on a stable nevirapine-based regimen with no history of liver problems or alcohol abuse after switching to abacavir from tenofovir. We also investigated the reasons for abacavir di...

Background Abacavir, a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, is used within drug combination therapy to treat the HIV-1 virus. It is a guanosine-analogue pro-drug, and once metabolised to carbovir, it acts as a DNA chain terminator. Exposure to abacavir is associated with a high frequency of CD8+ T-cell-mediated hypersensitivity reactions in individuals carrying the HLA risk allele B*57:0...

A hypersensitivity reaction occurs in association with initiation of abacavir therapy as part of combination antiretroviral therapy in approximately 3.7% of patients. The reaction is possibly the result of a combination of altered drug metabolism and immune dysfunction, which is poorly understood. White patients appear to be at higher risk and patients of African descent at lower risk of abacav...