Switch to TAF did not affect central nervous system (CNS) HIV infection

20 HIV-infected patients on suppressive antiretroviral treatment
who switched their backbone treatment from emtricitabine/
tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (FTC/TDF) or abacavir/
lamivudine (ABC/3TC) to FTC/tenofovir alafenamide (TAF)
were evaluated for changes in their central nervous HIVinfections.
All patients underwent lumbar punctures before
switching to FTC/TAF, after 3 months and after 12 months.
Neurocognitive tests were performed at the same time-points.
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was analyzed for HIV-RNA, markers
of axonal injury, immune activation and albumin ratios. In
summary there were no changes in any of the parameters and
there were also no changes in the results of the neurocognitive tests.

Ref; Yilmaz et al. Infect Dis 2019;10.1080/23744235.2019.1670352. Epub 2019 Sep 26.

Comment: The concentration of TAF in CSF is low compared
to the concentration of tenofovir administrated as TDF. It is
also low compared to the abacavir concentration in CSF. Despite
the low TAF concentration in CSF the switch to TAF did not
have any negative effect on the HIV infection in the CNS.