Conditions: HIV-1 Infection
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 73
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
This study is being done to see whether rifaximin, an antibiotic that works in the intestines, can lower the amount of germs in the intestines of HIV infected persons. It is possible that when the amount of these germs is lowered, an HIV-infected person's immune system will become less active and will have a better chance of recovering. Also, the study will evaluate the safety of using rifaximin in HIV-infected subjects.

Detailed description:
A5286 is a randomized, open-label, two-arm, pilot (phase II) study that evaluated whether 4 weeks of treatment with rifaximin, a non-absorbable antibiotic, decreases markers of immune activation and levels of translocated gut microbial products in HIV-1 infected subjects virally suppressed on ART with CD4+ T-cells \< 350 cells/mm\^3. Rifaximin were admistered to subjects for 3 weeks. Follow-up continued to week 12. The total sample size was 73 subjects. Subjects were randomized at a 2:1 ratio (rifaximin: no study treatment), using permuted blocks, without institutional balancing.

Subjects were seen through week 12 for clinical and laboratory evaluations, including plasma HIV-1 RNA, CD4+ T-cell count, and safety laboratories. Subjects had 2 baseline visits -- at pre-entry and entry. Study visits were scheduled at weeks 2, 4, 8, and 12. CD4+ T-cell counts and HIV-1 RNA were measured at all weeks; measures of activations, gut-homing markers, and soluble biomarkers were also performed at all weeks.

Arms:
arm 1: Participants were administered one 550 mg tablet of rifaximin to be taken orally two times a day for 4 weeks. arm 2: No study treatment for 4 weeks

Interventions: intervention 1: Rifaximin
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Participant were administered one 550 mg tablet of rifaximin to be taken orally two times a day for 4 weeks.

Protocol document: