1. Impact of Obefazimod on Viral Persistence, Inflammation, and Immune Activation in People With Human Immunodeficiency Virus on Suppressive Antiretroviral Therapy.
- Author
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Bernal, Silvia, Puertas, Maria C, Morón-López, Sara, Cranston, Ross D, Urrea, Víctor, Dalmau, Judith, Salgado, María, Gálvez, Cristina, Erkizia, Itziar, McGowan, Ian, Scherrer, Didier, Revollo, Boris, Sirera, Guillem, Santos, José Ramón, Clotet, Bonaventura, Paredes, Roger, and Martinez-Picado, Javier
- Subjects
HIV ,ANTIRETROVIRAL agents ,HIV-positive persons - Abstract
Background Persistence of viral reservoirs has been observed in people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), despite long-term antiretroviral therapy (ART), and likely contributes to chronic immune activation and inflammation. Obefazimod is a novel drug that inhibits human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) replication and reduces inflammation. Here we assess whether obefazimod is safe and might impact HIV-1 persistence, chronic immune activation, and inflammation in ART-suppressed people with HIV. Methods We evaluated obefazimod-related adverse events, changes in cell-associated HIV-1 DNA and RNA, residual viremia, immunophenotype, and inflammation biomarkers in blood and rectal tissue. We compared 24 ART-suppressed people with HIV who received daily doses of 50 mg obefazimod for 12 weeks (n = 13) or 150 mg for 4 weeks (n = 11) and 12 HIV-negative individuals who received 50 mg for 4 weeks. Results The 50- and 150-mg doses of obefazimod were safe, although the 150-mg dose showed inferior tolerability. The 150-mg dose reduced HIV-1 DNA (P =.008, median fold change = 0.6) and residual viremia in all individuals with detectable viremia at baseline. Furthermore, obefazimod upregulated miR-124 in all participants and reduced the activation markers CD38, HLA-DR, and PD-1 and several inflammation biomarkers. Conclusions The effect of obefazimod by reducing chronic immune activation and inflammation suggests a potential role for the drug in virus remission strategies involving other compounds that can activate immune cells, such as latency-reversing agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
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