Serious Non-AIDS Events: Therapeutic Targets of Immune Activation and Chronic Inflammation in HIV Infection.

Abstract

In the antiretroviral therapy (ART) era, serious non-AIDS events (SNAEs) have become the major causes of morbidity and mortality in HIV-infected persons. Early ART initiation has the strongest evidence for reducing SNAEs and mortality. Biomarkers of immune activation, inflammation and coagulopathy do not fully normalize despite virologic suppression and persistent immune activation is an important contributor to SNAEs. A number of strategies aimed to reduce persistent immune activation including ART intensification to reduce residual viremia; treatment of co-infections to reduce chronic antigen stimulation; the use of anti-inflammatory agents, reducing microbial translocation as well as interventions to improve immune recovery through cytokine administration and reducing lymphoid tissue fibrosis, have been investigated. To date, there is little conclusive evidence on which strategies beyond treatment of hepatitis B and C co-infections and reducing cardiovascular risk factors will result in clinical benefits in patients already on ART with viral suppression. The use of statins seems to show early promise and larger clinical trials are underway to confirm their efficacy. At this stage, clinical care of HIV-infected patients should therefore focus on early diagnosis and prompt ART initiation, treatment of active co-infections and the aggressive management of co-morbidities until further data are available.