Conditions: HIV-1 Infection
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 38
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
This study was done with people who were infected with HIV, but did not show any signs of having HIV. They were also feeling well without taking HIV medication and had low or undetectable levels of the virus in the blood. The purpose of this study was to see if taking HIV medication (antiretroviral therapy \[ART\]) would reduce immune activation (a signal that the body is fighting an infection) in people who have HIV, but did not show symptoms. Also this study helped determine how safe the drug was and how well people reacted to the drug.

For this study, the following antiretroviral therapy (ART) was be provided in the form of a single tablet that contains three different drugs: emtricitabine/rilpivirine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (FTC/RPV/TDF). These drugs were combined as one tablet which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a single pill to treat HIV infection. The HIV medication provided was one of the recommended treatments for HIV, including people with low viral loads (how much HIV you have in your body) who were taking HIV drugs for the first time. The risks seen with this HIV medication were the same that one would encounter when taking these drugs outside of the study.

Detailed description:
AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) A5308 was a single-arm clinical trial to evaluate the effect of initiating fixed-dose combination (FDC) FTC/RPV/TDF on CD8+ T-cell activation and other immunologic and virologic biomarkers among treatment-naïve HIV-1 controllers with any absolute CD4+ T-cell count. At study entry, these participants were followed off ART for a 12-week lead-in period, and then at week 12, participants initiated FDC FTC/RPV/TDF and had 48 weeks of follow-up to evaluate the primary endpoint.

All participants who completed Step 1 (48 weeks of ART) had the option to register to Step 2, for an additional 48 weeks of follow-up, and had the choice of either continuing FDC FTC/RPV/TDF or follow-up with no study treatment.

Participants underwent safety and tolerability evaluations throughout the study, including physical examinations and clinical assessments. Pregnancy tests were performed on women of childbearing potential. Collection of stored blood plasma/peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples occurred at entry and weeks 0, 4, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72 and 96 on ART.

Only participants who were on intervention (ART) for at least 24 weeks had samples sent for testing of immunologic and virologic biomarkers.

Arms:
arm 1: None

Interventions: intervention 1: Emtricitabine/rilpivirine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Step 1: From entry through week 12, the participants received no study treatment. From week 12 through week 60, the participants received one fixed dose combination emtricitabine/rilpivirine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (FTC/RPV/TDF) tablet daily.

Step 2 (Optional): From week 60 through week 108, the participants either received one FTC/RPV/TDF tablet daily or no study treatment.

Protocol document: