Long term adverse effects related to nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors: clinical impact of mitochondrial toxicity.

Antiretroviral treatment (ART) has provided excellent clinical efficacy in HIV infection, and individuals treated for HIV might therefore expect normal duration of life. However, this enthusiasm might be moderated by some devastating long-term adverse effects that are frequently observed in HIV-infected individuals, phenomena that may be even more pronounced as the HIV-infected populations become older and therefore perhaps more susceptible to some of these adverse effects. We here review the clinical impact of mitochondrial toxicity giving rise to many of the adverse effects caused by ART.