CATIE IMMUNOMODULATORS: Psoralens

IMMUNOMODULATORS: Psoralens

Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE) TreatmentUpdate48, Vol. 4, No. 8 - March 1994
Sean Hosein

BACKGROUND

Psoralens are a group of substances found in figs, limes, parsnip roots and a particular river weed. When exposed to UV (ultraviolet) light psoralens become 'activated'. A purified psoralen called MOP (8- methoxy psoralen) is used by doctors to treat a certain form of lymphoma. For this treatment, patients swallow MOP and then get hooked up to equipment that extracts, filters and beams small amounts of UV light at blood. The reaction between the light and MOP damages tumours. This process using MOP and exposing blood to UV light is called extracorporeal photopheresis (EP). Some researchers think that EP may have a role in treating HIV infection.

LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS

In tests with cells, HIV and UV light, researchers in the USA found that UV light and psoralens damage HIV without seriously injuring cells. Activated psoralens can also damage a wide range of viruses, including herpes viruses, as well as some bacteria. Researchers in the EC have found that the reaction between UV light and dyes can damage amour cells and HIV. Given the experience of using EP for cancer therapy, its relative safety and the fact that there is no effective therapy for AIDS, some researchers in the USA have been testing EP on HIV-infected humans. We reported preliminary results in TreatmentUpdate16 and in the next article we present long-term results.

REFERENCES:

1. Watson JA, Klaniecki J and Hanson CV. Psoralen/UV inactivation of HIV-infected cells for use in cytologic and immunologic procedures. AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses 1990;6(4):503.

2. Gulliya KS, Chanh T. Newman J. et al. Preactivation--a novel antitumour and antiviral approach. European Journal of Cancer 1990;26(5):55 1-553.

3. Bisaccia E, Berger C and Klainer AS. Extracorporeal photopheresis in the treatment of AIDS-related complex: a pilot study. Annals of Internal Medicine 1990;113(4):270-275.

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