A case report highlighting drug-drug interactions between 3 life-saving treatments: Feminizing hormones, antiretrovirals and antituberculosis drugs

We here present a case providing valuable insights for clinicians who deliver care to patients identifying as transgender or nonbinary. A 30-year-old trans woman presented to sexual health services requesting a routine sexual health screen and was subsequently diagnosed with HIV and syphilis. She started antiretrovirals for HIV (bictegravir/tenoforvir alafenamide/emtricitabine) 12 days later and was treated with benzathine penicillin G. The patient also had a positive tuberculosis (TB) ELIspot blood test result and further investigations proved the presence of active TB in the chest with mediastinal involvement. She commenced treatment for TB with quadruple therapy, including rifampicin. Due to the clinically significant interaction between rifampicin and bictegravir, the patient's antiretroviral treatment was switched to dolutegravir 50 mg twice daily in combination with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and emtricitabine. As the patient had transitioned from male to female and was self-medicating with oestrogen-containing feminizing hormone therapy, her hormonal treatment was optimized and blood levels of oestradiol were closely monitored and titrated to manage the drug-drug interaction between rifampicin and oestrogen to ensure the latter would be maintained within the expected therapeutic range. Our case report demonstrates the importance of combining treatment of multiple conditions under 1 team ideally integrated with gender services to prevent multiple attendances and mismanagement of feminizing hormone therapies.

Gender-affirming hormone therapy decreases d-dimer but worsens insulin sensitivity in transgender women

OBJECTIVES

Gender-affirming hormonal therapies (GAHT) and HIV increase cardiovascular risk for transgender women (TW), yet there is a paucity of data quantifying cardiometabolic changes following GAHT initiation, particularly among TW with HIV.

METHODS

The Féminas study enrolled TW from October 2016 to March 2017 in Lima, Peru. Participants reported sexual activity that was high risk for HIV acquisition or transmission. All were tested for HIV/ sexually transmitted infection and were given access to GAHT (oestradiol valerate and spironolactone), HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) or antiretroviral therapy (ART) for 12 months. Biomarker measurement was done on stored serum, whereas fasting glucose and lipids were measured in real time.

RESULTS

In all, 170 TW (32 with HIV, 138 without HIV) had median age 27 years and 70% prior GAHT use. At baseline, PCSK9, sCD14, sCD163, IL-6, sTNFRI/II, CRP and EN-RAGE levels were significantly higher in TW with HIV than in TW without HIV. High-density lipoprotein and total cholesterol were lower and insulin and glucose parameters were similar. All TW with HIV started ART, but only five achieved virological suppression at any time. No TW without HIV initiated PrEP. Over 6 months, all participants initiated GAHT and had worsening insulin, glucose and HOMA-IR. Large d-dimer decreases also occurred. Similar changes occurred in TW with and without HIV.

CONCLUSIONS

In this unique cohort of TW, GAHT decreased d-dimer but worsened insulin sensitivity. Because PrEP uptake and ART adherence were very low, observed effects are primarily attributed to GAHT use. Further study is needed to better understand cardiometabolic changes in TW by HIV serostatus.

Decreased Tenofovir Diphosphate Concentrations in a Transgender Female Cohort: Implications for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Preexposure Prophylaxis

Feminizing hormone therapy (FHT) may interact with human immunodeficiency virus preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP). We found that transgender women who took FHT exhibited a 7-fold lower rectal tissue ratio of PrEP's active metabolites vs competing deoxynucleotides compared to cisgender women and men (P = .03) that inversely correlated with estradiol (ρ = -0.79; P < .05). Thus, FHT may negatively impact PrEP efficacy. Clinical Trials Registration . NCT02983110.

Short Communication:Transgender Women on Feminizing Hormone Therapy Demonstrate a Distinct Rectal Mucosal Transcriptome from Cisgender Men

Among transgender women (TGW), the effects of feminizing hormone therapy use on rectal mucosal (RM) HIV transmission are largely unknown. In this small pilot study, we compared the RM transcriptome in TGW utilizing feminizing hormone therapy with a group of cisgender men who have sex with men (MSM) engaging in condomless receptive anal intercourse (AI) and to a group of cisgender men who had never engaged in AI. There were 498 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in TGW compared with men who had never engaged in AI, and 154 DEGs compared with the MSM. Among TGW, a unique RM transcriptome was identified that implicated pathways critical for mucosal immune responses, including upregulation of genes that mediate immune cell activation and the production of cytokines and other immune signaling molecules. Furthermore, gene set enrichment analyses identified immune signatures that implicated enrichment of proinflammatory immunological pathways in TGW, specifically involving interferon-α, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α signaling, whereas metabolic pathways were shown to be enriched among the cisgender male groups. These findings suggest that TGW have a distinct RM immune environment influenced by the use of feminizing hormones, and consequently, there is an urgent need for further investigation into the immunological effects of gender-affirming hormone therapy and its potential impact on HIV mucosal transmission risk for transgender individuals.