Effect of human immunodeficiency virus-1 protease inhibitors on the clearance of human herpesvirus 8 from blood of human immunodeficiency virus-1-infected patients

The effect of human immunodeficiency virus-1 protease inhibitors on the fre quency of human herpesvirus 8 DNA detection from peripheral blood of human immunodeficiency virus-positive persons was evaluated. Thirty-three human i mmunodeficiency virus-seropositive male patients were studied longitudinall y. DNA from open reading frame 26 of the human herpesvirus 8 genome was amp lified by the polymerase chain reaction from the CD45+ fraction of peripher al blood before and after the introduction of protease inhibitor therapy. H uman herpesvirus 8 IgG status, CD4+ cell counts, and human immunodeficiency virus-1 plasma viral load were also assessed before and after therapy. Whe n both reverse transcriptase inhibitor and protease inhibitor treatment wer e introduced at the same time, there was an increase in CD4+ T cell counts (P=0.0041), a decrease in human immunodeficiency virus plasma load (P=0.058 4), and a decrease in the detection rate of human herpesvirus 8 DNA (P=0.00 77). Introducing protease inhibitor to patients already receiving reverse t ranscriptase inhibitor treatment was associated with an increase in CD4+ T cell counts (P=0.0003), a decrease in human immunodeficiency virus plasma v iral load (P=0.0911), and a decrease in the human herpesvirus 8 detection r ate (P=0.0412). No significant changes in the titters of anti-human herpesv irus 8 IgG were observed. Treatment with human immunodeficiency virus-1 pro tease inhibitors is therefore associated with the clearance of human herpes virus 8 DNA from peripheral blood of human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients. The concomitant decrease in the human immunodeficiency virus plas ma load and increase in the peripheral CD4+ cell count suggest that an amel ioration in the immune defect following reduction in the burden of human im munodeficiency virus-1 infection is responsible for the clearance of human herpesvirus 8 by protease inhibitors. J. Med. Virol. 62:416-420, 2000. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.