August 2004
Current Issue
Past Issues
About Us
Public Affairs
Baylor Home
HIV researchers thwarted in attempts to treat widespread lipid disease
 |
Ashok Balasubramanyam, MD |
A little-known, yet widespread, metabolic disease linked to current treatments for HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) exposes another void in current clinical research about the virus. It is called lipodystrophy.
Characterized by levels of fat in the blood, lipodystrophy dramatically increases the risk of diabetes and heart disease. This alarming complication occurs in large numbers of patients with HIV. HIV-infection means that a patient is infected with the virus associated with AIDS.
Patients with lipodystrophy have high levels of blood fats in their blood. This means that their cholesterol levels are elevated as well as their triglycerides. They also develop a resistance to the effects of insulin, making them candidates for diabetes.
In addition, fat cells collect in various parts of their bodies, often causing visible abnormalities. Fat accumulation is most common in the abdominal area and the back of the neck.
“Lipodystrophy is a strange , emerging , severe disease which greatly affects the HIV population ,” said Ashok Balasubramanyam, MD , associate professor of endocrinology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston . “There is no adequate treatment , and the cause is not well understood.”
Difficulty in recruiting patients has slowed progress in a five-year, federally funded study called “Heart Positive” conducted in collaboration with the Montrose Clinic at 214 Westheimer. There is also a metabolic clinic for people who suffer from this disorder at Thomas Street Clinic , an HIV facility operated by the Harris County Hospital District and staffed by physicians from BCM and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston .
Researchers speculate that HIV lipodystrophy may be a side effect of antiretroviral therapy. It was first noticed after the advent of highly active anti-retroviral therapy using a class of drugs called protease inhibitors. It occurs in patients who take other types of new anti-HIV drugs as well.
Lipodystrophy usually surfaces 12 to 18 months after the patient begins treatment for HIV. Only some of the patients get the disorder, and its severity varies. Experts think there may be a genetic reason for the differences.
Before it showed up in patients with HIV and AIDS, lipodystrophy was an extremely rare , congenital disease. Today, Balasubramanyam estimates that as many as 80 percent of all HIV patients currently suffer from some form of the lipid disorder.
“There is not an HIV clinic in the world that is not facing these problems in large numbers ,” Balasubramanyam said.
Those interested in participating in Heart Positive can contact the clinical coordinator , Gina Cardwell, at 713-830-3034. More information on the study is available at www.heartpositive.org.
| A Matter of Health | |
 |
Healthy habits: Start learning early |