The Male Genital Tract in the Era of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART): Implication for Antioxidant Therapy

Abstract

With nearly two decades following the introduction of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) in the management of HIV/AIDS, tremendous success has been recorded in the control of HIV replication and overall wellbeing and longevity of afflicted patients. But this success has not been complete as HAART strategy still suffers from a myriad of issues, chiefly deleterious side effects owing to oxidative stress-induced cellular injuries. Pointless to say that this has impeded progress made so far and has left researchers in the continued search for options. With changing trends in fertility concerns of many patients infected with HIV, a gradual but persistent trust towards procreative tendencies of these patients who are still within the reproductive age axis becomes a compelling issue for experts. Numerous research points to the beneficial effects of antioxidant augmentation in HAART especially relevant in the midst of escalated cost of antiretroviral drugs in resource-deprived settings. A continued attempt to elucidate pathophysiological mechanisms involved in HAART-associated oxidative stress-mediated reproductive injuries remains critically important to improving the treatment strategies for this epidemic condition. Therefore, an overview of our current knowledge on HAART induced changes via oxidant-antioxidant pathway becomes pertinent as we unravel the body of knowledge that may be necessary to guide future directions particularly in reproduction. J o ur nal o f A ID S & Cli n ic a l R es earc h