An agent that can keep a prot ease from working and
splitting a protein into peptides. Protease inhibitors are used in HIV/AIDS treatment.
The protease inhibitors represented a major advance in treating HIV infection and
AIDS. However, these drugs are not entirely without side effects. A lipodystrophy
syndrome appears associated with the protease inhibitors. In this syndrome, the
face, arms and legs become thin due to loss of subcutaneous fat. The skin becomes
dry. The lips crack. Weight drops. Lawrence K. Altman in The New York Times observed
that, "Veins stick out as cords, and although normal, may be mistaken for varicose
veins. While fat disappears from some areas, it redistributes to build up in others.
The back of the neck (takes on fat and) resembles a buffalo hump. Breasts enlarge.
A woman may have to buy a bra that is two sizes larger than the last one. The abdomen
swells producing a sometimes painful pot belly that is dubbed "a protease paunch."
A woman may look pregnant when she is not. Exercise may not work it off." How the
protease inhibitors induce this lipodystrophy syndrome is unknown. Another problem
with the protease inhibitors is the development of strains of HIV that are resistant
to these drugs, as was reported at the 12th World AIDS Conference in 1998 by a team
led by Frederick M. Hecht at the University of California, San Francisco and workers
from Switzerland.
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