antiretroviral chemotherapy in HIV infection
Last edited 02/2018 and last reviewed 01/2022
There are six main categories of antiretroviral drugs used in HIV infection:
- nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs):
- AZT (zidovudine)
- ddI (didanosine)
- ddC (zalcitabine)
- d4T (stavudine)
- 3TC (lamivudine)
- abacavir
- non-nucleoside analogue inhibitors of reverse transcriptase (NNRTIs):
- etravirine
- delavirdine
- nevirapine
- efavirenz
- integrase inhibitors
- raltegravir (RAL)
- elvitegravir (EVG)
- protease inhibitors (PIs):
- amprenavir (APV, Agenerase)
- atazanavir (ATZ, Reyataz)
- saquinavir
- ritonavir
- indinavir
- nelfinavir
- lopinavir
- fusion inhibitors – prevents fusion of viral membrane with the cell membrane
- enfuvirtide T-20 (1)
- coreceptor antagonists
Some serious or unusual side effects of antiretroviral therapy are:
- NRTI’s – hypersensitivity, lactic acidosis and hepatomagaly, bone marrow suppression, pancreatitis, peripheral neuropathy, lipoatrophy
- NNRTI’s – hypersensitivity hepatic toxicity, psychiatric problems
- PI’s – hepatic toxicity, hyperlipdaemia, lipodystrophy, type 2 diabetes, ureteric colic, nephrolithiasis (1)
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