Antiretroviral drugs have proved useful in the clinical management of HIV-infected persons, though there are concerns about the effects of exposure to these DNA-reactive drugs. We investigated the potential of the plant model Allium cepa root tip assay to demonstrate the cytogenotoxicity of zidovudine and nevirapine and as a replace-reduce-refine programme amenable to resource-poor research set...

Treatment of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection during the clinical latency phase with drugs inhibiting reverse transcriptase (RT) reduces the HIV-1 RNA load and increases the CD4+ T-cell count. Typically, however, the virus evolves mutations in the RT gene that circumvent the drugs. We develop a mathematical model for this situation. The model distinguishes quiescent from ac...

Since zidovudine and ddI may be used in combination in the future to treat pregnant women who are human immunodeficiency virus positive, we conducted a study to determine whether zidovudine affects the transfer of ddI across the placenta. Zidovudine and ddI were infused simultaneously to three near-term pregnant macaques (Macaca nemestrina) at 156 +/- 1.5 days of gestation. Samples of maternal ...

BACKGROUND To investigate pharmacokinetic interactions associated with coadministration of lersivirine with zidovudine, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (DF)/emtricitabine (Truvada(®)) or abacavir/lamivudine (Epzicom(®)/Kivexa(®)). METHODS Three Phase I, open, crossover studies with two (studies 1 and 3) or three (study 2) treatment periods were conducted in healthy individuals. In study 1, indi...

BACKGROUND Intrapartum single-dose nevirapine plus third trimester maternal and infant zidovudine are essential components of programs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in resource-limited settings. The persistence of nevirapine in the plasma for 3 weeks postpartum risks selection of resistance mutations to nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibito...

OBJECTIVES Nucleoside analog reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI) are used in virtually all anti-HIV regimens. Clinical response depends on the intracellular formation of the pharmacologically active triphosphate moiety. Our objective was to quantify the pharmacological characteristics of zidovudine and lamivudine triphosphate in HIV-infected individuals. METHODS Peripheral blood mononucle...

BACKGROUND At the end of 1998 over 33 million people were infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and over one million children had been infected from their mothers. OBJECTIVES The objective of this review was to assess what interventions may be effective in decreasing the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV infection as well as their effect on neonatal and maternal morta...

BACKGROUND Zidovudine therapy is of benefit in the treatment of symptomatic and asymptomatic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in persons with CD4+ cell counts of less than 500 per cubic millimeter. The efficacy, safety, and duration of benefit of zidovudine in those with 500 or more CD4+ cells per cubic millimeter are uncertain. METHODS In a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial,...

The role of zidovudine and other antiretroviral agents in the pathogenesis of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related lymphomas has been somewhat controversial. In an attempt to elucidate the precise role of antiretroviral agents in the subsequent development of AIDS-related lymphoma, we performed a population-based, case-control study of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-seropositiv...