Citation

Van Rompay KK, Schmidt KA, Lawson JR, Singh R, Bischofberger N, Marthas ML. J. Infect. Dis. 2002; 186(10): 1508-1513.

Affiliation

California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, California 95616-8542, USA. kkvanrompay@ucdavis.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, University of Chicago Press)

DOI

10.1086/344360

PMID

12404171

Abstract

Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection of infant macaques is a useful animal model to determine whether topical (oral) administration of antiviral compounds to the nursing infant could reduce human immunodeficiency virus transmission through breast-feeding. The reverse-transcriptase inhibitor tenofovir was selected because of previous demonstrations that systemic drug levels are effective in preventing SIV infection. To mimic the multiple exposures to virus during breast-feeding, 14 infant macaques were fed 15 low doses of SIVmac251 without chemical restraint. Six animals were treated with placebo, and 2 groups of 4 animals received oral topical doses of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (DF; equivalent to 0.037 mg of tenofovir/day). About half the animals of each group became infected. In a subsequent study, 2 oral inoculations of 4 juvenile macaques with a mixture of tenofovir DF and SIVmac251 induced persistent infection. Topical administration of low doses of tenofovir DF did not protect against oral SIV infection.

Language: en