Africa: Older ARVs associated with premature ageing

Certain antiretroviral (ARV) drugs commonly used in the developing world may be responsible for premature ageing, according to the authors of a new study published in the journal, Nature Genetics. Newer, less toxic but more expensive ARVs are more commonly used in the Western world. Nucleoside analogue reverse-transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) have enabled millions of people living with HIV to prolong their lives. 'We noticed that people in their 40s who had been on NRTIs for the past several years had signatures of ageing in their muscles commonly found in healthy people in their 70s and 80s,' said Prof Patrick Chinnery of the University of Newcastle in the UK, one of the study's lead authors.