| pubmed-article:18520602 | pubmed:abstractText | Liver disease may alter the pharmacokinetics of antiretrovirals and produce changes in plasma protein binding. The aim was to evaluate the pharmacokinetics of total and unbound lopinavir (LPV) in HIV-infected patients with and without hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection. Fifty-six HIV+ patients receiving lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) (group I = 24 controls; II = 23 HIV/HCV-coinfected; III = 9 cirrhotic HIV/HCV-coinfected) were included. Total (n = 56) and unbound (n = 36) LPV pharmacokinetic parameters were determined at steady-state using validated high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection and high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry methods, respectively. Pharmacokinetic parameters (plasma concentration just before drug administration, peak concentrations in plasma, times to maximum plasma concentration, areas under the plasma concentration-time curve from 0 to 12 hours, and CL/F/kg) of both total and unbound LPV were calculated by standard noncompartmental methods and differences among groups evaluated (Kruskal-Wallis test).LPV apparent oral clearance normalized to body weight (median, interquartile range) was 55 (40-68), 59 (44-69), and 71 (53-78) mL/h/kg for groups I, II, and III, respectively (II vs. I, P = 0.52; III vs. I, P = 0.16). The areas under the plasma concentration-time curve from 0 to 12 hours were 110.4 (80.9-135.2), 103.4 (85.5-131.3), and 92.8 (87.4-116.3) microg h/mL for groups I, II, and III, respectively (II vs. I, P = 0.68; III vs. I, P = 0.71). Chronic liver impairment produced a slight, although not significant, decrease in plasma protein binding. The free-fraction of LPV increased ( approximately 21%) from 0.97% (0.80-1.06) in HIV+/HCV- patients to 1.18% (0.89-1.65) in HIV/HCV+ cirrhotic patients. The apparent oral clearance of unbound LPV (CLu/F/kg) in cirrhotic patients did not change significantly, supporting the concept that the clearance of unbound LPV in liver disease is not affected after being inhibited by low-dose ritonavir co-administration.LPV total and unbound pharmacokinetics were not affected by hepatic impairment, suggesting that no adjustment of LPV/r dose is required for HIV/HCV-coinfected patients with and without cirrhosis and moderate impairment of liver function. | lld:pubmed |
