title: Effect of hemodialysis and antiretroviral therapy on plasma viral load in HIV-1 infected hemodialysis patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Plasma viral load has become an important test in predicting the progress of HIV-1 infected patients. The higher the viral load the faster is the progression to AIDS. As HIV-1 infected hemodialysis (HD) patients have higher mortality and morbidity than HIV-1 infected non-dialysis patients, and as all the blood tests in the HD patients are drawn during HD, we measured the effect of HD and antiretroviral therapy on viral load in HIV-1 infected HD patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We measured plasma viral load pre-dialysis and post-dialysis in 10 HIV-1 infected HD patients. The viral load was measured using an in vitro quantitative nucleic acid amplification test. We also compared viral load in 8 HIV-1 infected HD patients on one antiretroviral drug with 8 HIV-1 patients on two (6) or three (2) antiretroviral drugs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a small reduction in plasma viral load postdialysis in all HIV-1 infected HD patients (45% +/- 5.4, 0.3 log +/- 0.05, p < 0.0004). However, HIV-1 RNA could not be detected in the ultrafiltrate. The patients who were on two or three antiretroviral drugs had lower viral load (8915 +/- 3702 vs. 351440 +/- 101237, p < 0.004) and higher CD4 count (355 +/- 81 vs 82 +/- 39, p < 0.009) than patients on only one antiretroviral drug.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that there is a small reduction in plasma viral load in HIV-1 infected hemodialysis patients post-dialysis. As no viral RNA could be detected in the ultrafiltrate, the reduction could be due to nonspecific adsorption of the viral RNA to the dialysis membrane. HIV-1 infected hemodialysis patients who are on two or three antiretroviral drugs had significantly lower viral load and higher CD4 count than patients on only single antiretroviral drug. Therefore a single antiretroviral drug should not be used in treating HIV-1 infected HD patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, 77555, USA.
authors.forename: T S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Ahuja
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Niaz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Velasco
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Watts
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Paar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D019562:Viral Load