Antiretroviral therapy can't completely stop accelerated cell aging seen in HIV

This is the first longitudinal study conducted to investigate the contribution of HIV-infection, versus treatment, on the acceleration of aging epigenetics -- external factors that affect the function of genes -- in this population of adults.

The researchers extracted DNA from 15 HIV-infected people at three points in time: 6 to 12 months prior to the initiation of antiretroviral therapy, 6 to 12 months after the beginning of therapy and, again, 18 to 24 months after being put on the therapy. They then compared those samples with DNA from 15 age-matched, non-HIV-infected individuals.

研究人员注意到一些局限性, including the small sample size, their inability to adjust for other factors that might have influenced the results, and the fact that a larger study may be needed to detect more subtle epigenetic changes caused by antiretroviral therapy.

The results suggest that altered epigenetics may help explain why even successfully treated HIV-infected adults are at an increased risk for the early development of many diseases more commonly associated with aging.