Treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection with Hydroxyurea: Virologic and Clinical Evaluation

To assess the efficacy of the therapeutic use of inhibitors of ribonucleotide reductase for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 infection, 7 consecutive patients were enrolled in a clinical trial involving monotherapy with hydroxyurea for 8-19 weeks. During therapy, patients were evaluated for clinical status and immunologic, hematologic, and quantitative virologic parameters, including determinations of viremia and the number of provirus-containing cells by competitive polymerase chain reaction. In all patients, these parameters were not modified during the course of therapy. The number of CD4 cells remained generally unchanged or showed a tendency to further decline. No sign of improvement in HIV disease was detected in any patient. These observations indicate that monotherapy with hydroxyurea does not provide therapeutic benefit to HIV-1-infected patients.