title: The effect of the different treatment protocols on virological and immunological responses in patients with HIV/AIDS.
abstract: This study analyzed the differences between the virological and immunological responses in patients with HIV/AIDS subjected to different treatment protocols. The cases treated with HAART were divided into groups on the basis of treatment protocols. The groups were evaluated with respect to the differences by comparing the virological and immunological responses prior to treatment and at 12 and 24 weeks of therapy. Six different treatment protocols were applied in the treated patients. As the largest clusters, the lopinavir/ritonavir-based patient group (Group 1, n = 29) and efavirenz-based patient group (Group 2, n = 18) were compared. The mean CD4 and HIV-RNA values of Groups 1 and 2 were 184 and 243 h/μl and 422,266 and 317,684 copies/ml, respectively. At 24 weeks of treatment, the HIV-RNA levels were below detectable values in 86% and 78% of the patients in Groups 1 and 2, respectively (p > 0.001). The striking outcomes observed in this study demonstrated that the pretreatment HIV-RNA level, CD4 value, gender, age, and protease inhibitor- or non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-based combined treatment protocols do not cause a significant difference and that patient compliance to treatment is the most important factor associated with treatment success.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital.
authors.forename: Nagehan Didem
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Sari
authors.forename: Muzaffer
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fincanci
authors.forename: Ferda
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Soysal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active / Q000379:methods*; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents; D012367:RNA, Viral