No increased risk of Kaposi sarcoma relapse in patients with controlled HIV-1 infection after switching protease inhibitor-based antiretroviral therapy.

OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to assess if switching from a protease inhibitors (PI)-based regimen to a PI-free one is associated with an increased risk of Kaposi Sarcoma (KS) relapse among patients living with HIV (PLHIV) with history of KS and controlled HIV replication. METHODS: In a retrospective analysis of the prospectively collected Dat'AIDS database we selected patients who both had a past KS history and a HIV-1 viral load below 200 copies/mL while being PI-treated. We searched for KS relapses while persistent virological success was maintained for at least 6 months, whether patients kept taking the PI, or switched to PI-free regimen. RESULTS: Among the 216 patients with past KS event and a history of HIV-1 infection efficiently treated by a PI-based regimen, 148 patients (68.5%) later switched to a PI-sparing regimen. Their baseline characteristics were not different from non-switching patients. We described 7 cases of relapse (3.2% of the 216 patients). Five cases of relapse occurred in switching patients (3.4%). The remaining two relapses occurred in PI-treated patients (2.9%). At KS relapse, CD4 cell count was 459 cells/µL (range 225-560) for switching patients, compared with 362 and 136 cells/µL for the other two patients. CONCLUSIONS: In this large cohort of PLHIV with a history of KS and ART-controlled HIV replication, KS relapses were described in 3.2% of the patients, and were not more frequent when a PI-containing ART regimen has been switched to a PI-free regimen. Our results do not support a specific effect of PI on KS.