FDA Releases New Dosing Recommendations for Zidovudine for HIV-Infected Infants
“On November 6, 2009, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved revised pediatric dosing recommendations [for Retrovir (zidovudine)] that expand dosing to include children starting treatment at four weeks of age....
“The recommended dosage in pediatric patients 4 weeks of age and older and weighing [4 kg or more] is provided in Table 1. RETROVIR Syrup should be used to provide accurate dosage when whole tablets or capsules are not appropriate.”
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Study Suggests HLA-B Alleles Target Conserved HIV-1 Proteins
“HLA-B alleles of HIV-infected individuals have been shown to have a major impact on their rate of progression toward AIDS, and the T-cell responses they restrict are immunodominant…. We sought to identify whether the association of HLA-B alleles with rate of progression toward AIDS is due to targeting of more restricted and thus more conserved regions of the HIV-1 proteome…. Each residue of the HIV-1 consensus subtype B sequence was coded according to the presence/absence of an epitope, using the compiled epitope data available in the HIV-LANL immunology database. The Shannon entropy for each HXB2 position was calculated using pre-aligned HIV-1 clade B sequences as a measure of its degree of conservation. We then compared the entropy of empty versus epitope-containing positions and HLA-B-restricted versus HLA-A-restricted positions…. Our results suggest that epitopes in HIV-1 targeted by HLA-B alleles lie in more constrained regions of its proteins, in which mutations might have a higher fitness cost and tend to revert. Consequently, HLA-B-restricted cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) responses may persist longer. This may be one of the factors contributing to the immunodominance and impact of HLA-B-restricted CTL responses on disease progression.”
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