title: Association of drug abuse with inhibition of HIV-1 immune responses: studies with long-term of HIV-1 non-progressors.
abstract: Recreational drug use has been proposed to affect the course of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections. To investigate the effects of substance abuse on HIV infections, we compared virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses and the expression of IL-16, TGF-beta1, and CXCR4 in three different cohorts of HIV-infected patients: (1) long-term nonprogressors (LT-NPs) of HIV infection who do not use recreational drugs; (2) nondrugs using normal progressors (NPs), and (3) drugs using NPs. Our results show that LT-NPs manifest increased CTL activity and IL-16 expression and decreased expression of TGF-beta1 and CXCR4 compared to NPs, regardless of recreational drug usage. Furthermore, drugs using NPs showed significantly lower levels of CTL and IL-16 expression and increased TGF-beta1 and CXCR4 expression compared to nondrugs using NPs. Our results suggest that recreational drug use may reduce CTL and IL-16 expression and increase the expression of TGF-beta1 and CXCR4, all of which may facilitate progression of HIV infections.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Microbiology, State University of New York at Buffalo, Kaleida Health/Buffalo General Hospital, 100 High Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA. mnair@acsu.buffalo.edu
authors.forename: Madhavan P N
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mahajan
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hewitt
authors.forename: Z R B
authors.initials: ZR
authors.lastname: Whitney
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Schwartz
mesh_terms: D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology*; D020276:HIV Long-Term Survivors; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D019410:Interleukin-16 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000096:biosynthesis; D019718:Receptors, CXCR4 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D019410:Interleukin-16; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D019718:Receptors, CXCR4; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta