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Updated: May 10, 2026

Methods Development for Blood Borne Macrophage Carriage of Nanoformulated Antiretroviral Drugs
Published on: December 9, 2010
Interactions between tenofovir and nevirapine in CD4+ T cells and monocyte-derived macrophages restrict their
N J Liptrott1, P Curley, D Moss
1Department of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, Institute of Translational Medicine, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
Objectives:
There is no pharmacokinetic interaction between tenofovir and nevirapine, but a higher emergence rate of resistance mutations has been reported when these drugs are coadministered. We sought to examine if there is a potential intracellular interaction that may account for the emergence of resistant virus.
Methods:
Primary CD4+ and CD14+ cells were isolated from healthy volunteer blood. Monocyte-derived macrophages were differentiated from CD14+ cells. Accumulation of radiolabelled tenofovir and nevirapine was then assessed in these cells.
Results:
We show here that tenofovir and nevirapine immune cell intracellular concentrations are lower when coincubated in CD4+ cells and monocyte-derived macrophages, but not in CD14+ cells.
Conclusions:
These data indicate a potential intracellular drug-drug interaction between these drugs that warrants further investigation.
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