{"id":9700,"date":"2004-06-02T14:51:08","date_gmt":"2004-06-02T14:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/?p=9700"},"modified":"2014-05-22T17:09:40","modified_gmt":"2014-05-22T17:09:40","slug":"oral-uridine-to-treat-mitochondrial-toxicity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/9700","title":{"rendered":"Oral uridine to treat mitochondrial toxicity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Graham McKerrow, HIV i-Base<\/strong><\/p>\n

A case report of a 54-year-old Caucasian man in Germany indicates that oral uridine may be effective in life-threatening mitochondrial toxicity related to pyrimidine nucleoside analogues such as zalcitabine (ddC, Hivid) or stavudine (d4T, Zerit).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Several investigators have found beneficial effects of uridine in vitro and in animals, but Ulrich Walker and colleagues report in the 30 April issue of AIDS the case of a man who has been on antiretroviral medication since being diagnosed with HIV-1\/AIDS four years ago. He was on a stavudine-containing regimen, which was then switched to lamivudine 150 mg twice a day, stavudine 40 mg twice a day, abacavir 300 mg twice a day and efavirenz 600 mg a day. His initial CD4+ count of 25 cells\/mm3 had risen to 682 two years ago. HIV was undetectable in the blood.<\/p>\n

The authors report that after several months, he developed myalgias and a continuous increase in creatine kinase, lactate and transaminases. Abdominal ultrasound revealed signs of massive liver steatosis. The patient was started on NucleomaxX, a food supplement consisting of Mitocnol, an extract from sugar cane with a high content (17%) of nucleosides, for suspected stavudine-related mitichondrial toxicity. Drinking the contents of a single 36g sachet of NucleomaxX increases physiological serum concentration of uridine in humans from approximately 5 uM to more than 100 uM. The patient had 3 sachets a day for 4 days. At his next visit two weeks later, liver and muscle enzymes, and the myalgias, had improved, despite unchanged medication. Lactate had normalised after 7 weeks. Stavudine was then switched to tenofovir. There were no subsequent clinical or laboratory abnormalities, viral load remained below the limit of detection at < 50 copies\/ml, and ultrasound showed substantial improvement of steatotic signs.<\/p>\n

Reference:<\/p>\n

Walker U, Langmann P, Miehle N et al. Beneficial effects of oral uridine in mitochondrial toxicity. AIDS: Volume 18(7) 30 April 2004 pp 1085-1086<\/p>\n

Links:<\/p>\n