title: High frequency of grossly deleted nef genes in HIV-1 infected long-term slow progressors treated with Korean red ginseng.
abstract: To investigate the association between Korean red ginseng (KRG) intake in HIV-1 infected patients and the occurrence of grossly deleted nef genes (gDeltanef), we characterized nef genes in 10 long-term slow progressors (LTSP) infected with HIV-1 subtype B and 34 control patients. LTSP was defined by the annual decrease in CD4 T cells being less than 20/microl over 10 years in the absence of antiretroviral therapy. They were treated with KRG for a prolonged period. Nef genes were amplified from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) using nested PCR and the products were sequenced directly. It was observed that the patients CD4 T cell counts decreased from 444 +/- 207/microl to 294 +/- 177/microl over 136 +/- 23 months of KRG intake. This corresponds to an annual decrease in the level of CD4 T cells of 13.3/microl. A total of 479 nef genes were amplified from 137 PBMC samples. Nine out of the 10 patients, 47 (34.3%) out of the 137 samples, and 90 out of the 479 genes revealed gDeltanef. The deletion extended outside the nef gene in 25 gDeltanef obtained from 6 patients. The proportion of samples with gDeltanef (34.3%) was significantly higher than 4.8% in control patients (P < 0.001). In addition, it significantly increased as the duration of KRG intake prolongs (P < 0.01). These data suggest that the occurrence of gDeltanef might be associated with long-term intake of KRG.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea. ykcho2@amc.seoul.kr
authors.forename: Young K
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Ji Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: You S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Sun K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Hee J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Heungsup
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sung
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D017353:Gene Deletion; D015693:Gene Products, nef / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D015754:Genes, nef; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology; D020276:HIV Long-Term Survivors; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005894:Panax; D008517:Phytotherapy; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D054311:nef Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
chemical_list: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents; D015693:Gene Products, nef; D054311:nef Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus