An older class of antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV infection can lead to premature aging, new research suggests.The researchers examined muscle cells of HIV-infected patients and found that zidovudine (AZT) and other antiviral drugs known as nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) DNA damage in mitochondria, the energy factories in cells.Study was published June 26 in the journal Nature Genetics.The findings may help explain why some HIV patients treated with antiviral drugs signs of weakness and old age related diseases such as dementia and heart disease at a young age."HIV clinic for patients who are otherwise treated successfully, but the phenomenon is much older than their age when they saw it. This conundrum," Professor Patrick Chinnery, a senior fellow in...
