A new study led by UCLA researchers suggests that antiretroviral drugs TAF and TDF may have an impact on the energy production of cells. The study found that both drugs led to reduced cellular oxygen consumption rates, a measure of the ability of the mitochondria to produce energy, compared with controls.
But in combination with other antiretrovirals, TAF appeared to result in a larger energy reduction than TDF did. Whether this is a cause for concern is not known at this point.
The drugs TAF and TDF are used to treat HIV and hepatitis B infection in millions of people around the world, and are also used as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) against HIV in uninfected people.
The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Metabolism, used both a human clinical trial and lab experiments to assess the impact of TAF and TDF in combination with other antiretrovirals on the ability of blood immune cells to make energy. The clinical trial included 26 people with HIV who switched antiretrovirals over nine months, and the researchers assessed how the drugs affected their cells’ energy production.
The study’s senior author, Dr. Theodoros Kelesidis, said “This is an important message, given that millions of people are on these antiretrovirals. It remains to be shown whether the effects of these antiretrovirals on mitochondria are mechanistically linked to certain metabolic changes that may be seen with the use of these antiretrovirals such as weight gain.”
The clinical implications of the findings are unclear at this point, a question that requires more research. These drugs are well tolerated by millions of people worldwide, but the long-term clinical implications of these drugs on the ability of human cells to make energy is unclear.
The study is published in the peer-reviewed journal Metabolism. FUNDING The study was supported by Gilead Sciences, Inc. (CO-US-311-4393) and the National Institutes of Health (R01AG059501).