A study published in the October 9 issue of the journal Neurology has found that highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) may protect the brain from damage by HIV.

In the study, Åsa Mellgren, MD, PhD, with the Clinic of Infectious Diseases SAS in Boras, Sweden, and an international team of researchers examined the effect of HAART on a protein tied to HIV-related brain damage. Levels of the protein, called light-chain neurofilament protein (NFL), are elevated in people who have AIDS dementia complex, which starts off as problems with mood, learning and memory and can progress to more severe mental problems and loss of various body functions. Researchers recruited 53 people with HIV who were about to start HAART. Levels of NFL were elevated in 21 of them, and within the normal range in the remaining 32 before starting treatment.

After just three months of HAART, 48 percent of the 21 who’d had elevated NFL levels saw those levels fall to the normal range. Researchers followed 16 of them for a year after starting HAART, and found that only four of them still had high levels of NFL. Of the 32 who’d started treatment with normal levels of NFL, only one had NFL levels increase to above normal during follow-up. Researchers suggest that measuring NFL levels in people with HIV can be useful to determine who may be at risk for developing dementia and to monitor the protective effect of HAART on the brain.