Important note: Information in this article was accurate in October 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.AIDSWEEKLY Plus; October 7, 2002
Michael Greer, Senior Medical Writer
"The combination of interleukin 2 (IL-2) and antiretroviral therapy (ART) represents an emerging strategy in the treatment of patients infected with HIV," explained Mauro Malnati and colleagues at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, the University of Milan and University Tor Vergata and Istituto Superiore di Sanita in Rome. "Aside from its immunomodulatory role, however, IL-2 may induce replication of human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8)/Kaposi sarcoma (KS)-associated herpesvirus."
Luckily, IL-2 appears to be safe for patients without detectable levels of HHV-8 in plasma, Malnati and coauthors found.
The researchers reviewed data from 84 HHV-8-seropositive patients who underwent antiretroviral therapy with or without concomitant IL-2 treatment. Prior to treatment, only two of these patients demonstrated detectable plasma viremia, they said.
Both patients with detectable HHV-8 viral loads later developed KS, and both showed elevated HHV-8 viremia starting at the same time as their IL-2 treatment. However, none of the other 47 patients who received supplementary IL-2 ever developed detectable plasma levels of HHV-8, study data showed.
Although HHV-8 is not normally ubiquitous (unlike other herpesviruses), latent HHV-8 infection is commonly seen in HIV and other immunocompromised patients (Retrospective analysis of HHV-8 viremia and cellular viral load in HIV-seropositive patients receiving interleukin 2 in combination with antiretroviral therapy. Blood 2002 Sep 1;100(5):1575-8.
"Thus, IL-2 therapy seems safe in most patients infected with both HIV and HHV-8, except for those with detectable HHV-8 viremia, who may not be eligible for IL-2 treatment," Malnati and colleagues concluded.
The corresponding author for this report is Mauro S. Malnati, Unit of Human Virology, Via Olgettina 58, 20132 Milan, Italy. E-mail: malnati.mauro@hsr.it.
Key points reported in this study include:
This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.
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