title: Recombinant human interferon beta ser protects against zidovudine-induced genetic damage in AIDS patients.
abstract: This study was conducted to evaluate the in vivo genotoxicity of zidovudine (ZDV) in patients with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Patients with this disease who were non-smokers and on ZDV (1200 mg/day) as their only medication for 4 weeks to 7 months were studied. Patients with AIDS who had not received ZDV served as a negative control. Whole blood cultures were initiated by conventional methods with PHA 1:50 dilution. In addition, for each culture there was an untreated control and a recombinant interferon-beta (rIFN-beta)-treated culture. The IFN-treated cultures were exposed to 10, 100, 1000, or 10000 units of rIFN-beta for the entire incubation period. The cells were harvested at 72 h and stained with a fluorescence plus Giemsa method which permits the determination of the number of division cycles a cell has completed. One hundred metaphases from first division cells were scored from each culture for chromosome aberrations that were mainly from the chromatid-type, i.e. chromatid, chromosome, and isochromatid breaks. The frequency of breaks in the ZDV and no ZDV group was 8.29 +/- 2.65 and 0.5 +/- 0.29 per 100 cells respectively (P less than 0.05). Cultures from ZDV patients that were incubated with 100 and 1000 units of rIFN-beta, however, showed a frequency of 1.3 +/- 0.71 and 1.9 +/- 1.08 respectively, which was significantly lower than observed in the cultures not exposed to IFN (P less than 0.05). At the highest dose of rIFN-beta utilized no aberrations were detected.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston 77550.
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Shafik
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Nokta
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Pollard
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D003470:Culture Media; D006801:Humans; D000068556:Interferon beta-1a; D000068576:Interferon beta-1b; D016899:Interferon-beta / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D015215:Zidovudine / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D000068576:Interferon beta-1b; D015215:Zidovudine; D016899:Interferon-beta; D000068556:Interferon beta-1a