Different impact of anti-retroviral regimen containing protease inhibitors on development of HIV-related Kaposi sarcoma.
BACKGROUND
The incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), an AIDS-related malignancy, has dramatically decreased in the Highly Active Anti-retroviral Therapy (HAART) era. However, KS remains the second most frequent tumor in HIV-infected patients worldwide and has become the most common cancer in the sub-Saharan Africa. Experimental studies have demonstrated a direct anti-neoplastic effect of HAART, and overall of protease inhibitors (PIs), on KS.


CASE REPORT
We describe five cases of KS in HIV-infected patients on HAART regimen, containing PIs as atazanavir/r (ATV/r), darunavir/r (DRV/r), lopinavir/r (LPV/r) and fosamprenavir (fAMP/r).


CONCLUSION
Clinical and experimental observations support the hypothesis that PIs may play an important role in prevention and treatment of KS. In our study, the treatment with PIs of recent generation was not protective against the development of KS. Therefore, it could be necessary to re-evaluate the therapeutic effects of PIs and their role in the development and treatment of KS in HIV-infected patients.
['Carleo|Maria Aurora|MA|', 'Di Martino|Filomena|F|', 'Del Giudice|Annalisa|A|', 'Gargiulo|Miriam|M|', 'Parrella|Giovanni|G|', 'Rosario|Pietro|P|', 'Sangiovanni|Vincenzo|V|', 'Viglietti|Rosaria|R|', 'Esposito|Vincenzo|V|', 'Chirianni|Antonio|A|']
D000328:Adult D000970:Antineoplastic Agents D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count D015658:HIV Infections D017320:HIV Protease Inhibitors D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D012307:Risk Factors D012514:Sarcoma, Kaposi D016896:Treatment Outcome D019562:Viral Load D055815:Young Adult
protease inhibitors Kaposi's sarcoma HAART AIDS HIV