Important note: Information in this article was accurate in August 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date. |
AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, August 11, 2003
Michael Greer, Senior Medical Writer
"Oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection," explained Pal Aukrust and colleagues at Rikshospitalet in Oslo and Haukeland Hospital in Bergen.
Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) restores some - but not all - of the body's natural antioxidant activity, Aukrust and coauthors found.
HAART-treated patients demonstrated improvements in glutathione-redox status and elevated levels of antioxidant vitamins compared with untreated patients, they said. However, patients undergoing HAART still had lower levels of antioxidant activities than healthy subjects.
Glutathione was added to cultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells collected from HIV patients. Cell proliferation was heightened in the presence of glutathione, study data showed.
In addition, glutathione supplementation inhibited tumor necrosis factor-alpha release by cultured cells (Disturbed glutathione metabolism and decreased antioxidant levels in human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients during highly active antiretroviral therapy-potential immunomodulatory effects of antioxidants. J Infect Dis. 2003 Jul 15;188(2):232-8.
"Our findings suggest that therapeutic intervention aimed at normalization of oxidative disturbances in HIV infection could be of interest, in addition to HAART," Aukrust and colleagues concluded.
The corresponding author for this report is Pal Aukrust, Section of Clinical Immunology and Infectious Diseases, and Research Institute for Internal Medcine, Medical Department, Rikshospitalet, N-0027 Oslo, Norway. E-mail: pal.aukrust@rikshospitalet.no.
Key points reported in this study include:
Supplemental antioxidants may enhance the efficacy of highly activty antiretroviral therapy (HAART)
HAART restores some, but not all, of the body's natural antioxidant activity
Glutathione improved in vitro T-cell proliferation and reduced tumor necrosis factor-alpha release
This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.
Reference
Aukrust P, Muller F, Svardal AM, et al., "Disturbed glutathione metabolism and decreased antioxidant levels in human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients during highly active antiretroviral therapy--potential immunomodulatory effects of antioxidants", J Infect Dis. 2003 Jul 15;188(2):232-8
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