A potential AIDS drug called azodicarbonamide suppresses not only HIV, but also the human immune system, the scientists report in the August issue Nature Medicine . Although some scientists believe that the discovery casts doubt on the future of the drug in the treatment of AIDS, it points to its possible use to prevent the body from rejecting organ transplants.
In 1996, azodicarbonamide has been found to inhibit HIV replication in cell cultures by interfering with "zinc fingers" - elongated members comprising a zinc atom - a crucial viral protein. it has been shown to work in both the early and late stages of AIDS and is currently in clinical trials. researchers at the University of Brussels, Belgium, wonders, however, if the drug could also affect on the immune system -. More particularly, on CD4 cells, the class of white blood cells infected with HIV
the researchers used monoclonal antibodies to activate the human CD4 cells in test tubes They. then measured azodicarbonamide effect on the production of cytokines, proteins which signal other cells to mount defenses of cells. "We were surprised that this drug has a drastic effect," said a member of the Jamila Ismaili team. In most tested human samples, the drug reduced cytokine production by 80% to 0% within 72 hours
The result led the researchers to think about a completely different use for azodicarbonamide: . As a drug that could stop the immune system from attacking the transplanted organs. Thus, in a second experiment, they gave a daily dose to mice that received a skin graft rejection and controlled. Without the drug, the skin grafts survived only 12 days; on average, doubled it azodicarbonamide. This suggests that azodicarbonamide can be added to the arsenal of immunosuppressive drugs, said Ismaili.
But the study raises questions about the use of azodicarbonamide as anti-HIV agent. "You could worry additional immunosuppressive effects with AIDS," says Stephen Desiderio, a molecular biologist at the School of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. He stressed that the drug could still be useful in the early stages of infection when it will be more important than maintaining the immune system in the form containing the replication. "This is really a first look at the issue," says Desiderio.
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