ABSTRACT
Objective To explore whether the mitochondrial toxicity markers of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC)are of significance in monitoring mitochondrial toxicity during highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART)in patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).Methods Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA),mitochondrial thymidine kinase (TK2 )and p53-inducible ribonucleotide reductase small subunit 2 (p53R2 )were selected as mitochondrial toxicity markers.The expression changes of theses markers of PBMC in 22 AIDS patients were detected by real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR)at baseline,48 weeks and 96 weeks after initiation of the treatment. All the patients received stavudine/zidovudine and lamivudine as the mainstay of the HAART regimen. Independent-samples t test was used.Results The relative expression level of mtDNA in patients before HAART was 3.27 ± 0.94,and decreased to 2.16±0.85 at week 48 and 1 .66±0.66 at week 96, respectively.The differences were both significant compared with the level prior to the treatment (t =-3.90,P <0.01 and t =-6.29,P <0.01 ,respectively).The relative expression level of TK2 before HAART was 0.37 ±0.13,and increased to 1 .01 ±0.25 at week 48 and 2.13 ±0.61 at week 96 of the treatment.After pairwise comparisons of the three pairs of data (pre-HAART vs week 48 of the treatment,pre-HAART vs week 96 of the treatment and week 48 vs week 96 of the treatment),the differences were all significant (t = 10.77,8.00 and 3.56,respectively;all P < 0.01 ).The relative expression level of p53R2 was 0.86±0.39 before HAART,but gradually increased to 2.36 ±1 .14 and 7.73±0.65 ,respectively,at week 48 and week 96 of the treatment.The differences in p53R2 levels among three groups after pairwise comparison were all significant (t=3.27,12.26 and 13.25,respectively;all P < 0.01 ).Conclusions The expression levels of mtDNA,TK2 and p53R2 in PBMC could change significantly during HAART in AIDS patients,which might be used as indexes for monitoring mitochondrial toxicity.