Survival of HIV-1 infected multidrug-resistant patients recycling enfuvirtide after a previous failure.
BACKGROUND
A substantial proportion of HIV-1 infected multidrug-resistant patients previously exposed to enfuvirtide (ENF) have recently recycled the drug as part of their optimized backbone therapy when starting a new antiretroviral regimen including investigational drugs, but no data are available concerning the impact of this strategy on clinical outcome. We evaluated long-term survival in multidrug-resistant patients recycling ENF after a previous failure.


METHODS
A retrospective analysis of clinical outcomes in 32 multidrug-resistant patients receiving fewer than 3 active drugs who reintroduced ENF with those who did not.


RESULTS
Patients characteristics were not different in the 2 groups at the start of ENF treatment. During follow-up, 6 of the 15 patients (40%) who did not recycle ENF died, as did 3 of the 17 (17.7%) who recycled ENF. Survival probability was higher among patients who recycled ENF (P = 0.0006), also when the analysis was subdivided by CD4 cells gain (P = 0.003) or viral load decrease (P = 0.0003) at the end of the first cycle or the use of investigational drugs during follow-up (P = 0.003).


CONCLUSIONS
We found significantly longer survival in patients who reintroduced an ENF-containing regimen after a previous failure on the drug. We therefore suggest considering ENF recycling in patients starting a new regimen with fewer than 3 active drugs.
Cossarini
Francesca
F
Department of Infectious Diseases, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy. cossarini.francesca@hsr.it
Galli
Laura
L
Sagnelli
Caterina
C
Gianotti
Nicola
N
Hasson
Hamid
H
Clementi
Massimo
M
Soria
Alessandro
A
Salpietro
Stefania
S
Lazzarin
Adriano
A
Castagna
Antonella
A
D000328:Adult; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D024921:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Viral; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D000077560:Enfuvirtide; D005260:Female; D015700:HIV Envelope Protein gp41 / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D023581:HIV Fusion Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000821:virology*; D020276:HIV Long-Term Survivors; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D019380:Anti-HIV Agents; D015700:HIV Envelope Protein gp41; D023581:HIV Fusion Inhibitors; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D000077560:Enfuvirtide