These results, consistent with those obtained in subcutaneous adipose tissue of lipodystrophic HIV patients on anti-HIV drugs (Squillace et al., 2014), namely miRNA-218-5p over-expression and lipin-1 mRNA down-regulation, corroborates the use of 3T3-L1 adipocytes treated with PIs as a good in vitro model to investigate some open aspects of lipodystrophy cART-induced. This evidence concerns the gene LPIN1 and lipodystrophy.