AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, April 14, 2003
Michael Greer, Senior Medical Writer

G. Sonia Nagy and colleagues working at Harvard Medical School's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston investigated the "relationship between the adipocyte-derived hormone leptin, insulin resistance, and fat redistribution" in HIV patients.

Serum leptin levels were significantly altered in patients with abnormal fat distribution after antiretroviral therapy, Nagy and coauthors found.

The researchers examined 120 patients treated with antiretroviral agents for at least six months. Lipoatrophy, lipohypertrophy, or mixed lipodystrophy was seen in 57% of these patients, according to the report.

Patients diagnosed with any form of lipodystrophy had a significantly greater degree of insulin resistance than patients with normal fat distribution, study data showed. Lipoatrophy patients also showed significant reductions in serum leptin concentrations compared with their counterparts.

Conversely, serum leptin levels were significantly elevated in patients diagnosed with lipohypertrophy (Human immunodeficiency virus type 1-related lipoatrophy and lipohypertrophy are associated with serum concentrations of leptin. Clin Infect Dis 2003 Mar 15;36(6):795-802.

"In this cohort of antiretroviral-experienced HIV-infected patients, a low serum level of leptin was independently associated with insulin resistance in patients with lipoatrophy," Nagy and colleagues concluded.

The corresponding author for this report is G. Sonia Nagy, Division of Infectious Diseases, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA.

Key points reported in this study include:

• The adipocyte-derived hormone leptin may play a role in HIV-related lipodystrophy

• Serum leptin levels were significantly reduced in HIV patients with lipoatrophy

• Conversely, leptin levels were elevated in lipohypertrophy patients

This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.

Reference

Nagy GS, Tsiodras S, Martin LD, et al. "Human immunodeficiency virus type 1-related lipoatrophy and lipohypertrophy are associated with serum concentrations of leptin", Clin Infect Dis 2003 Mar 15;36(6):795-802.

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