The anti-HIV antiviral activity of entecavir: the loss of a trusted friend?

Abstract

The HBV drug entecavir - effects on HIV-1 replication and resistance. McMahon MA, Jilek BL, Brennan TP, Shen L, Zhou Y, Wind-Rotolo M, Xing S, Bhat S, Hale B, Hegarty R, Chong CR, Liu JO, Siliciano RF, Thio CL. Entecavir, a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, is not believed to inhibit replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) at clinically relevant doses. We observed that entecavir led to a consistent 1-log(10) decrease in HIV-1 RNA in three persons with HIV-1 and HBV coinfection, and we obtained supportive in vitro evidence that entecavir is a potent partial inhibitor of HIV-1 replication. Detailed analysis showed that in one of these patients, entecavir monotherapy led to an accumulation of HIV-1 variants with the lamivudine-resistant mutation, M184V. In vitro experiments showed that M184V confers resistance to entecavir. Until more is known about HIV-1-resistance patterns and their selection by entecavir, caution is needed with the use of entecavir in persons with HIV-1 and HBV coinfection who are not receiving fully suppressive antiretroviral regimens. [Abstract reproduced by permission of N Engl J Med 2007;356:2614-2621].