Comparison of levels of antiretroviral drugs with efficacy in children with HIV infection.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of low and high antiretroviral (ARV) plasma levels and to analyze correlation between ARV concentrations and the appearance of therapeutic failure and toxicity.

Methods: The authors present here a study evaluating antiretroviral plasma concentrations in HIV infected children on nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors and protease inhibitors based therapy. The authors carried out a multicentre, cross-sectional study, including HIV-infected children from five large Hospitals in Madrid, Spain.

Predictive factors of virological success to salvage regimens containing protease inhibitors in HIV-1 infected children.

Background: The impact of HIV drug resistance mutations in salvage therapy has been widely investigated in adults. By contrast, data available of predictive value of resistance mutations in pediatric population is scarce.

Methods: A multicenter, retrospective, observational study was conducted in children who received rescue salvage antiretroviral therapy after virologic failure.

Positive virological outcome after lopinavir/ritonavir salvage therapy in protease inhibitor-experienced HIV-1-infected children: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Lopinavir/ritonavir has demonstrated antiviral activity in the HIV-infected patient.

Objective: To analyse virological response to lopinavir/ritonavir therapy in previously protease inhibitor (PI)-experienced HIV-1-infected children.

Materials And Methods: Sixty-seven HIV-1-children on lopinavir/ritonavir were studied in a multicentre prospective cohort observational study.

Extensive implementation of highly active antiretroviral therapy shows great effect on survival and surrogate markers in vertically HIV-infected children.

We performed a retrospective observational study of 253 children vertically infected with human immunodeficiency virus (1994-2001) to assess the effectiveness of antiretroviral therapies (ARTs) on survival and surrogate markers at the population level. Children were divided into 3 groups according to the ART protocols used during the follow-up period: calendar period (CP) 1 (1994-1996) received combined therapy with 2 nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs); CP2 (1997-1998) received implementation of highly active ART (HAART) with 3 drugs (NRTIs, protease inhibitors, and non-NRTIs); and CP3 (1999-2001) received extensive HAART. The children in the CP3 group had statistically significant longer survival periods, lower virus load (VL), highest undetectable VL proportion, and highest CD4+ T cell counts.

Virological phenotype switches under salvage therapy with lopinavir-ritonavir in heavily pretreated HIV-1 vertically infected children.

Objective: To investigate the effects of salvage therapy with lopinavir-ritonavir on HIV-1 phenotype in heavily antiretroviral experienced HIV-infected children.

Design: Twenty antiretroviral experienced HIV-infected children were studied during a mean of time of 16.1 months from initiation of the treatment with lopinavir-ritonavir.