By Teri H.P. Nguyen
Daily Bruin Contributor
Cocaine increases the replication of the HIV virus in human
cells, a new UCLA study shows.
UCLA AIDS Institute scientists have shown that the injection of
cocaine in an animal model dramatically increases the spread of HIV
infection.
Dr. Gayle C. Baldwin, associate professor of hematology-oncology
and the primary investigator, and her colleagues first inoculated
mice ““ bred specifically without immune systems ““ with
human cells, since the virus infects only human cells.
The human cells were then infected with the virus itself.
Four days following the infection, researchers injected liquid
cocaine in half the mice; the other half received saline
placebos.
After only 10 days, the count for HIV-infected cells were
surprising, researchers said.
“We saw a 200-fold increase in AIDS viral load in the
blood of the animals injected with the cocaine compared to those
that received the placebo,” Baldwin said.
Two other findings were also of great interest to the
researchers.
One was the acceleration, or frequency of HIV-infected cells,
and the other was a nine-fold drop in CD4 T-cells in the human
cells, according to a statement released by the UCLA Health
Sciences. CD4 T-cells are the human immune cells that HIV targets
to destroy the immune system.
“The cocaine increased HIV’s efficiency so
dramatically that it nearly wiped out the CD4 T-cells,”
Baldwin said.
The study answered many suspicions researchers had about drugs
and its effects on the immune system, said Dr. Beth Jamieson,
director of UCLA’s Flow Cytometry Core.
Baldwin and her colleagues have been studying the effects of
drugs on the immune system for the past 10 years.
Anecdotes that suggest cocaine’s impact on the immune
system also suggest cocaine’s influence on HIV, since both
cause damage to the system ““ though in different degrees.
The study will help researchers understand the pathology of the
HIV virus and the co-factors involved in making it more virulent,
Jamieson said.
The study’s findings will give researchers and society a
different perspective on HIV drug therapy and drug therapy in
general, she added.
“We know that cocaine ““ a drug ““ increases the
replication of HIV,” Jamieson said.
Anti-retroviral drugs are used to decrease viral infections.
If drugs can influence the spread of infections, as in the case
of AIDS and cocaine, Jamieson said, then there may be some
instances where drugs can slow the process of a spreading
disease.
Though no direct jump can be made from mice to humans, the study
gave researchers the capability to pick apart the underlining
components.
Because cocaine is often abused in society, researchers believe
the study will assist in educating individuals towards or away from
specific behaviors.
“We have a system that shows cocaine’s effects on
HIV. It’s relevant to humans,” Baldwin said.