Urinary 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine, a Metabolite of Oxidized DNA, is not Elevated in HIV Patients on Combination Antiretroviral Therapy

Mitochondrial toxicity of nucleoside analogues has been proposed to be the etiology of a range of side-effects from antiretroviral therapy of HIV infection. In this study, urinary 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8OH2'dG), a metabolite of oxidized DNA, was measured to determine if antiretroviral therapy leads to oxidative damage to DNA. A cross-sectional study was carried out measuring urinary 8OH2'dG in three groups of HIV-infected patients: (1) antiretroviral medication naive, (2) patients on antiretroviral medications without lipodystrophy and (3) patients on antiretroviral medications with lipodystrophy. Twenty-five patients were enrolled in each group. The mean spot urinary 8OH2'dG measurements per mg creatinine for the three groups were: antiretroviral naive 4.27 - 0.61 (ng 8OH2'dG/mg creatinine - SEM), on antiretroviral medications without lipodystrophy 2.88 - 0.26, and on antiretroviral medications with lipodystrophy 3.27 - 0.30. The differences between the means of the three groups is not...