Boosted protease inhibitor-including versus a protease inhibitor-sparing regimen in protease inhibitor-resistant HIV-infected patients: 24-week immunological outcome

The best salvage therapy for protease inhibitor (PI)-resistant HIV-infected patients is still controversial. We measured changes in viral load and CD4 T-lymphocyte counts in 40 PI-resistant patients receiving boosted PI-including or PI-sparing antiretroviral therapy. At multivariate analysis, the only independent predictor of CD4 T-lymphocyte changes at week 24 was a boosted PI-including regimen. In PI-resistant HIV-infected patients, a boosted PI regimen preserves CD4 T lymphocytes from depletion in the medium term compared with a PI-sparing regimen.