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Tesamorelin decreased visceral, liver fat among patients with HIV
Patients with HIV who were treated with tesamorelin for 6 months showed decreased amounts of visceral and liver fat, according to new research data.
Steven K. Grinspoon, MD, of the nutritional metabolism program, Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial with 50 patients with HIV who had received antiretroviral therapy for 3 months or longer. All patients had excess amounts of abdominal fat and were assigned placebo (n=22) or 2 mg tesamorelin (n=28) subcutaneously daily for 6 months. Patients also were randomly assigned to undergo euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp.
Steven K. Grinspoon
Patients assigned tesamorelin showed decreases in abdominal fat and liver fat at 6 months. The cohort had a greater decrease in mean abdominal visceral adipose tissue area (–34 cm²; 95% CI, –53 to –15 cm²) compared with controls (8 cm²; 95% CI, –14 to 30 cm²).
The mean change in visceral adipose tissue among those who received tesamorelin was –9.9% (95% CI, –19.7% to –0.2%) compared with 6.6 % (95% CI, –4.1% to 17.3%) among controls. Median changes in liver fat, based on hepatic lipid to water percentage, modestly decreased among tesamorelin patients (–2%) compared with placebo (0.9%) and were associated with changes in visceral adipose tissue (P=.047).
“The decrease in liver fat in this study suggests that strategies to reduce visceral adiposity merit further investigation in HIV-infected patients with NAFLD, a condition for which there are no approved treatments,” the researchers wrote. “Importantly, NAFLD is associated with visceral adiposity and other metabolic abnormalities in HIV.”
Disclosure: Grinspoon reports serving as a consultant to Aileron Therapeutics, Ferrer, Sanofi-Aventis, Navidea, AstraZeneca and EMD Serono. He also reports receiving investigator-initiated funds from Theratechnologies, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences, Amgen/Immunex, Novo Nordisk and EMD Serono.