Real-life study of dual therapy based on dolutegravir and ritonavir-boosted darunavir in HIV-1-infected treatment-experienced patients

Background Dual therapy based on dolutegravir and ritonavir-boosted darunavir (DTG/DRV/r) is a combination of well-known drugs with a high genetic barrier to HIV resistance. Method A retrospective analysis of all HIV-1 infected treatment-experienced patients who switched to DTG/DRV/r from May 2014 till March 2017 in 4 Polish centres–results of a 48-week treatment. Results The study group consisted of 59 men and 17 women. Median baseline parameters were: age– 42.7 years, CD4 cells count– 560.5 cells/μl, CD4 cells nadir– 150 cells/μl, number of prior antiretroviral regimens– 3. The introduction of dual therapy was primarily due to virologic failure (30 patients), adverse events on previous regimens (17 patients) and therapy simplification (27 patients). At week 48 the treatment was continued in 70/76 of patients and the median CD4 cells count increased from 560.5 to 641.0 cells/μl. The therapy was discontinued in six patients (1 –virologic failure, 1 –decrease of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), 1 –myalgia, 3 –lost to follow-up). At week 48 six patients had detectable viremia, but only in one patient viremia was higher than 200 copies/ml. At week 48 the level of serum total cholesterol of the investigated subjects was statistically significantly higher than at the moment of dual therapy introduction (185.8 mg/dl vs. 174.8 mg/dl- p<0.05). However, in patients previously not treated with TDF, there were no changes in lipid parameters during therapy. Proteinuria was observed in 13.2% of patients before the switch to dual therapy and in 7.1% of patients at week 48. Conclusions The investigated dual therapy was effective and safe. The observed increase in lipid parameters only concerned the patients who had used a TDF-based regimen prior to analysed dual treatment.