HIV & AIDS Review · Jun 28, 2026
Impact of clinical status at the time of HIV diagnosis on intensity of epigenetic ageing in HIV-infected men treated with integrase inhibitors
By Bożejko M, Małodobra-Mazur M, Gnatowski A et al.
Introduction:We have recently published a study indicating that, given a wide range of confounding factors, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection remains an independent factor accelerating epigenetic ageing.In this research, a detailed analysis of medical history of ten (n = 10) participants from our previous study was conducted, for whom extreme results of global DNA methylation, a key marker of epigenetic ageing, were obtained. Material and methods:The current study included five (n = 5) patients with the highest levels of global DNA methylation, and five (n = 5) with the lowest levels of global DNA methylation.The current analysis focused particularly on clinical status at the time of HIV diagnosis and at the start of combined antiretroviral therapy. Results:In the analysis of continuous variables, no significant differences between groups were reported, even without multi-test corrections.This was attributable to small group sizes.The strongest (most negative) association was observed between global DNA methylation and years since HIV diagnosis (ρ = -0.400,permutation p = 0.249), followed by HIV RNA at diagnosis (ρ = -0.309,p = 0.386).Conclusions: No common, distinct feature distinguishing HIV-infected individuals with low versus high global DNA methylation levels was identified.However, the results suggest a negative correlation between the global DNA methylation level and the time since HIV diagnosis as well as viral load at diagnosis.