AIDS Treatment News No. 20 (San Francisco Sentinel) - December 19, 1986
John S. James

The UCSF paper did not mention these treatments; and we did not discuss this article with the scientists. Statements made here are solely the responsibility of this writer.

The UCSF researchers decided to study why only some people infected with the AIDS virus become ill, while many others remain healthy. They unexpectedly found that the suppressor T- cells of the healthy individuals prevented the virus from growing. In several different laboratory tests, the virus could grow in helper T-cells from those persons, but only if the suppressor cells were removed.

This finding surprised the scientists, since normally suppressor T-cells have an opposite function. Instead of attacking invading organisms, they turn off the immune response initiated by the helper T-cells, restoring the normal balance after the immune reaction has done its job. But now we know that these same suppressor cells also stop the growth of the AIDS virus directly (although they do not kill it). The scientists suspect that they stop the virus by secreting some chemical, currently unknown.

Jay Levy, M.D., head of the research team at what is widely considered one of the three leading centers for basic AIDS research in the world, described the new finding as "the first indication that individuals have in themselves a means of controlling the virus."

Implication for Alternative Treatments

Mainstream science and medicine, on one hand, and "alternative" AIDS treatments on the other, have unfortunately kept apart, forming two different worlds which seldom talk seriously with each other. The UCSF paper does not discuss alternative treatments; it may have been necessary to omit them in order to keep credibility or even to be published in the mainstream world. The UCSF paper could only suggest the potential treatment of growing a patient's suppressor cells outside the body and then putting them back in -- an idea likely to take years before it is ready for widespread use.

But meanwhile, the UCSF findings explain better than ever before how certain alternative treatments are working. They highlight the urgent need for research institutions to take these treatments seriously, and test and develop them quickly.

DNCB and Lentinan

For in-depth information about these alternative treatments, see earlier articles in this series: "DNCB AIDS/ARC Treatment", SF Sentinel September 26, 1986, and "Shiitake, Lentinan, and AIDS/ARC", SF Sentinel December 5, 1986. Here the important fact is that both treatments greatly increase T- cell counts.

The T-cell subset blood tests report T-4 (helper-inducer) and T-8 (suppressor-cytotoxic) counts. A low helper/suppressor ratio can be used as an early warning of trouble, but today researchers are learning that this ratio can be misleading, especially in monitoring the effectiveness of a treatment. The actual cell counts are more important then the ratio.

With DNCB treatment, what commonly happens is that both cell counts go up, but at first the suppressors increase faster. The ratio looks like it is getting worse; but later the helpers go up, and the ratio moves toward normal.

The new UCSF finding makes possible a good guess at what is happening. The treatment itself causes all T-cells to increase. But at first the helper T-cells increase only slowly, because the AIDS virus, which infects only these helper cells, keeps killing them -- either directly, or by provoking the body's own immune system against them. The suppressor cells keep increasing, however, until there are enough of them to stop the virus. Then the helper cells can increase, and the ratio improves.

Another alternative treatment, the drug lentinan, derived from the shiitake mushroom and now well accepted by physicians in Japan to increase T-cells for cancer treatment, showed this effect to a spectacular degree in the only case where lentinan has ever been tested for AIDS or ARC. Before treatment, the helper/suppressor ratio had decreased to .92, and the helper T- cell count was 172. During several months of lentinan treatment, the ratio continued downward to .37; but meanwhile the helpers had risen to 597. During treatment, the patient went from positive to negative on the AIDS antibody test (from just above to just below the line in the test being used). Two years later she is in good health -- and does not need to continue using lentinan. (The absolute test values, and current condition of the patient, were not published but obtained by this writer through private communication.)

A reasonable guess at what happened here is that the lentinan treatment pushed this patient over the line from someone on the way to developing ARC and/or AIDS to someone whose suppressor cells could stop the virus.

Suppressor Cell Levels in AIDS/ARC

If suppressor cells can stop virus growth, why do some people with AIDS or ARC have a high T-8 (suppressor-cytotoxic) count?

An earlier UCSF study carefully analyzed T-cell subsets in healthy volunteers and persons with AIDS (Stites and others, 1986). Most of the T-8 cells are the cytotoxic kind, not suppressors; and the study found that the cytotoxic cells appeared to be responsible for most of the T-8 increase in AIDS. In other words, the high T-8 count may not be due to large numbers of suppressor cells.

If correct, this hypothesis would be good news, because it leaves open the possibility that there is nothing wrong with the suppressor cells in persons with AIDS or ARC. All that is needed to stop the virus may be to increase their numbers - which DNCB, and lentinan also, can do.

The new UCSF finding does not completely answer the question why some persons infected with the virus get AIDS or ARC while others do not. But a reasonable guess is that, although the suppressor cells can control the virus, the body lacks a systematic way of mobilizing this defense. Indeed the feedback mechanism may work in the wrong direction with a virus like AIDS, which attacks the helper T-cells. Since suppressor cells normally respond to helper cells, killing the helper cells may also reduce the number of suppressors, reducing the ability to stop the virus.

If this hypothesis is correct, the human defenses against AIDS may be balanced on a knife edge. Often the suppressor cells can keep the virus in check. But if for any reason the virus gets a start, it could indirectly reduce the number of suppressors and allow the virus to multiply further.

The obvious therapy would be to use a treatment to mobilize the suppressor-cell defense.

A handful of physicians have used DNCB for treating AIDS and ARC, for as long as two years. While they have had very good results both in blood counts and clinically, it is also clear that DNCB alone is not enough for everybody. Some patients may also need an antiviral. And some have very high levels of immune globulins, and it is not known whether these will eventually return to normal. Other treatments may be needed in combination with DNCB.

AIDS Research Politics

At this time several leading AIDS researchers want to do a clinical study of DNCB. They have not been able to get funding.

Lentinan, the other T-cell growth treatment, is not available in the U.S. One company has an option to license it here, but has not said whether it is interested in AIDS or ARC. Others are kept away by the license restrictions. The U.S. National Cancer Institute has put lentinan into a suggested-treatment file for eventual consideration by a committee.

It is all too clear that AIDS treatment research will not be handled properly until there is a political demand every step of the way. To build an effective demand, AIDS organizations and others must pay attention to treatment research issues; virtually none have yet done so. The experts can do the job, but we must reduce the political and institutional obstacles in their path.

Alternative Information Now

For DNCB information you can call Jim Henry at (415) 647- 8561.

Lentinan is found in the shiitake mushrooms, and Japanese scientists have learned that the drug can be used orally. The problem is that we don't know how much is in the mushrooms, and too much can have the opposite of the intended effect and be worse than useless. We do know that lentinan should not be used every day; every other day, or every fourth day, have worked better.

Traditionally, shiitake has been a folk remedy in Japan, part of the Oriental tradition of medicinal foods. Traditional cooking recipes may give the best available information about how much of the mushroom to use, and how to prepare it. We asked Misha Cohen at Quan Yin Acupuncture and Herb Center in San Francisco to recommend a cookbook; she suggested Aveline Kushi's Complete Guide to Macrobiotic Cooking, by Aveline Kushi, published by Warner Books. You could also call Tom O'Connor, (415) 626-0469, of the Gay Macrobiotic Network in San Francisco; Mr. O'Connor is also writing a book on AIDS.

References

Stites DP, Casavant CH, McHugh TM, Moss AR, Beal SL, Ziegler JL, Saunders AM, and Warner NL. Flow Cytometric Analysis of Lymphocyte Phenotypes in AIDS Using Monoclonal Antibodies and Simultaneous Dual Immunofluorescence. Clinical Immunology and Immunopathology, Volume 38, pages 161-177, 1986.

Walter CM, Moody DJ, Stites DP, and Levy JA. CD8+ Lymphocytes Can Control HIV Infection in Vitro by Suppressing Virus Replication. Science, December 19, 1986.

How to Subscribe to AIDS Treatment News

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Copyright 1986 by John S. James. Permission granted for non-commercial reproduction.
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