Conditions: HIV Infections
Keywords: HIV persistence reservoirs residual replication gut gut-associated lymphoid tissue treatment experienced
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 8
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The "PLUS" study is a pilot study to measure the effect of therapy intensification (with raltegravir and optional second agent) on HIV levels in the gut and blood in patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) with viral load \< 50 copies/mL (herein referred to as "suppressed"). We hypothesize that there is ongoing replication in the gut despite suppressive ART and that this replication can be inhibited by the addition of one or two new antiretroviral drugs whose activity affects a distinct part of the viral life cycle. All study participants will have upper and lower endoscopy at baseline (before intensification) and after intensification. These endoscopies will be used to obtain gut tissue and single cells (for CD4+ cells) .

Detailed description:
The "PLUS" study is a prospective, longitudinal pilot study to measure the effect of therapy intensification (with raltegravir and possible addition of a study PI or NNRTI-Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor) on HIV-1 DNA/RNA levels in the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) and blood in patients on ART with viral load (VL) \< 50 copies/mL (herein referred to as "suppressed"). We hypothesize that there is ongoing replication in the GALT despite suppressive ART and that this replication can be inhibited by the addition of one or two new antiretroviral drugs whose activity affects a distinct part of the viral life cycle. All study participants will have a colonoscopy and esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) at baseline (before intensification) and a second colonoscopy with EGD 12 weeks after intensification. These endoscopies will be used to obtain GALT mononuclear cells (for CD4+ lymphocytes) as well as tissue for in situ hybridization and immunohistochemical studies.

Arms:
arm 1: Intensification with raltegravir 400mg PO BID +/- a study PI or NNRTI

Interventions: intervention 1: raltegravir intervention 2: Study NNRTI intervention 3: Study PI
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: The baseline ART regimen will be intensified with raltegravir 400mg orally (PO) twice daily (BID) (all participants) +/- a study NNRTI or protease inhibitor (PI) (at the option of the participant and the study clinical team). intervention 2: Subjects who are not already on an NNRTI and who are suitable candidates will have the option of adding a study NNRTI (either efavirenz or etravirine). intervention 3: Subjects who are not on a PI and who are suitable candidates will have the option of adding a study PI. PIs used as study drugs will include atazanavir (+/- ritonavir), fosamprenavir (+/-ritonavir), lopinavir/ritonavir, and darunavir/ritonavir.

Protocol document: