Applying biofluid 1H NMR-based metabonomic techniques to distinguish between HIV-1 positive/AIDS patients on antiretroviral treatment and HIV-1 negative individuals

Metabonomics, the study of metabolites and their role in various physiological states, is a novel methodology arising from the post-genomics era and has extensive biomedical application. This technology has exhibited vast success in the identification and study of human diseases and may find further application in the study of HIV/AIDS. Specifically, the wide range of clinical and metabolic abnormalities associated with the use of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment may be investigated. To this end, this preliminary study evaluated whether metabonomic techniques could distinguish between HIV-1 positive/AIDS patients utilizing antiretroviral therapy and HIV-1 negative individuals. Serum metabolic profiles determined by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy combined with pattern recognition analysis of the data showed that this distinction was attainable; suggesting that ARV-associated side-effects could be monitored utilizing NMR metabonomic techniques.