Active clinical trials for "Lipodystrophy"

Some HIV-infected adults develop lipodystrophy that includes significant changes in body shape, with fat losses in the face, arms and legs, and fat gain in the trunk. This lipodystrophy is often accompanied by other disorders of metabolism, such as increased levels of fat and insulin in the blood. The majority of these cases have been seen when patients are taking medications called protease inhibitors. These are anti-retroviral medications designed to treat patients with HIV. It is unclear if lipodystrophy is a result of having HIV or the medication used to treat HIV. It has been suggested, but not proven, that lipodystrophy is a direct side effect of protease inhibitors. In addition, it is unknown if HIV-infected children develop significant lipodystrophy after taking protease inhibitors. This study will investigate the prevalence of metabolic disorders and changes in body fat distribution in children taking protease inhibitor anti-retroviral medications. The results will be compared to three other groups; (1) children suffering from other non-HIV chronic infections, (2) HIV-infected children not taking protease inhibitors, and (3) healthy children. The study will look at HIV-infected children who have already started taking protease inhibitors. It will evaluate these children for disorders in metabolism as well as body fat changes. In addition, the study will follow HIV-infected children who will begin taking protease inhibitors. The study will follow these children for 18 months to detect the development of disorders in metabolism and / or body fat changes.

This is a randomized prospective study into metabolic adverse events during different types of initial antiretroviral therapy in HIV-1-infected men.

The purpose of this study is to see how beginning or changing anti-HIV medications affects the body composition (weight, height, growth, body fat, and muscle mass, or fat and muscle distribution) of HIV-infected children. This study also looks at how changes in body composition relate to changes in viral load (level of HIV in the blood), CD4 cell counts, height, and weight in HIV-infected children. This study also compares changes in body composition to levels of cytokines (proteins in the body that affect some immune cells) in HIV-infected children who are beginning or changing anti-HIV therapy. Though studies have been done on adults, little is known about the effects of HIV infection and anti-HIV drugs on body composition in children. One theory is that changes in body composition can predict the failure of anti-HIV treatment. If this is true, body composition measurements can be as useful as CD4+ cell counts in determining drug effectiveness.

Human lipodystrophies (lipoD) represent a heterogeneous group of diseases characterized by generalized or partial fat loss, with fat hypertrophy in other depots when partial.3, 4 Insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and diabetes are generally associated, leading to early complications. Acquired lipoD can be generalized, resembling congenital forms, or partial, as the Barraquer-Simons syndrome, with loss of fat in the upper part of the body contrasting with accumulation in the lower part. The most common forms of lipoD are iatrogenic. In human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients, some first-generation antiretroviral drugs were strongly related with peripheral lipoatrophy and metabolic alterations. Genetic forms are very uncommon: recessive generalized congenital lipoD result in most cases from mutations in the genes encoding seipin or the 1-acyl-glycerol-3-phosphate-acyltransferase 2 (AGPAT2). Dominant partial familial lipoD result from mutations in genes encoding the nuclear protein lamin A/C or the adipose transcription factor PPARgamma. Importantly, LMNA mutations are also responsible for metabolic laminopathies, resembling the metabolic syndrome and progeria, a syndrome of premature aging. Molecular genetic bases of many rare forms of genetic lipoD remain to be elucidated.

Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) are a class of anti-HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) drug that can be an important part of an HIV treatment regimen. Because anti-HIV therapy may have negative side effects, there is a great need to carefully study HIV infected patients on such regimens. One negative side effect observed in many HIV infected patients is lipoatrophy, a condition that results in fat loss in the body. It is unclear if NRTIs also have a role in the development of mitochondrial toxicity, a condition that affects the body's ability to produce energy. The purpose of this study is to observe the effects of an NRTI-based, protease inhibitor (PI)-sparing drug regimen on fat loss in HIV infected, treatment-naive adults. Study hypothesis: The initiation of NRTI-containing, PI-sparing therapy will inhibit mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) synthesis and lead to a decrease in mtDNA content in adipose tissue, skeletal muscle and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), will cause deterioration in mitochondrial function, will increase fat apoptosis and oxidative damage biomarkers, and will lead to progressive decrease in body fat content.

The investigators will evaluate the effects of an endurance exercise program on the physical performance, the well being, and indicators of metabolic function in patients with an HIV infection.

Sleep-disordered breathing is characterized primarily by partial or total upper airway obstruction during sleep. The most common form of sleep-disordered breathing is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) due to recurrent collapse of the upper airway with the onset of sleep state. The major risk factors associated with the development of sleep apnea are obesity and male sex. The investigators have also found a high prevalence of OSA in HIV infected men and women, particularly among those with central lipohypertrophy, which is a common finding in HIV-infected persons receiving antiretroviral therapy. Currently, our overall hypothesis is that visceral adiposity, as seen in HIV-infected persons with central lipohypertrophy, alters both mechanical properties and compensatory neuromuscular responses leading to upper airway obstruction. Based on our most recent findings in the non-HIV population, the investigators demonstrate that obesity is associated with elevations in the upper airway load (passive Pcrit) that are counterbalanced by compensatory upper airway neural responses. Moreover, the investigators have found that female sex, peripheral adiposity, and younger age are associated with increased compensatory neuromuscular responses, while male sex, central adiposity, and older age are associated with blunted compensatory responses. The loss of the compensatory neuromuscular responses leads to obstructive sleep apnea. Among HIV-infected patients with central lipohypertrophy, tesamorelin (Egrifta), a growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) analogue, is approved for the reduction of visceral adipose tissue. The investigators hypothesize that tesamorelin therapy will reverse both the mechanical and neurocompensatory alterations associated with increased central obesity. In this project the investigators will determine whether tesamorelin affects sleep apnea severity and compensatory neuromuscular responses of the upper airway on sleep and breathing in men and women with HIV infection. The proposed studies are designed to elucidate the pathophysiologic basis for the development of obstructive sleep apnea in this population. The studies also provide insights into the neurohumoral regulation of upper airway function, and potentially new approaches to the treatment for sleep-disordered breathing.

The study aims to characterise the influence of the autonomic nervous system activity on the development of the lipodystrophy syndrome in HIV-infected patients by measuring heart rate variability and various metabolic pathways in HIV patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy.

This study plans to learn more about immune responses in intestinal (gut) tissue in people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. This study will determine whether change in the composition of gut bacteria in HIV infected individuals is related to a high prevalence of chronic gut inflammation and metabolic disease. The investigators will also investigate immune-modulatory properties of specific bacteria that correlate with disease both by characterizing which functional genes are selected for in their genomes and by stimulating immune cells isolated from blood and gut tissue with bacterial isolates. This work will establish whether gain/loss of bacterial drivers/suppressors of information in the gut contributes to metabolic disease in HIV-infected individuals.

OBJECTIVES: I. Determine the response in plasma norepinephrine concentration and plasma glycerol to the agonist (clonidine) and the antagonist (yohimbine) of the alpha-2 adrenergic receptor in 6 patients with regional lipoatrophy and in 6 controls. II. Determine the full sequence of the alpha-2 adrenergic receptor structural gene in genomic DNA from peripheral blood leukocytes.