Acne drug may help prevent HIV breakout

Good morning friends. A cheap acne drug that's been used for decades effectively targets infected immune cells in which HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, lies dormant and prevents them from reactivating and replicating, claim Johns Hopkins researchers.

The drug, minocycline, likely will improve on the current treatment regimens of HIV-infected patients if used in combination with a standard drug cocktail known as HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy), according to research published now online and appearing in print April 15 in The Journal of Infectious Diseas es.

“The powerful advantage to using minocycline is that the virus appears less able to develop drug resistance because minocycline targets cellular pathways not viral proteins,” says Janice Clements, Ph.D., Mary Wallace Stanton Professor of Faculty Affairs, vice dean for faculty, and professor of molecular and comparative pathobiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

“The big challenge clinicians deal with now in this country when treating HIV patients is keeping the virus locked in a dormant state,” Clements adds. “While HAART is really effective in keeping down active replication, minocycline is another arm of defense against the virus.”

Unlike the drugs used in HAART which target the virus, minocycline homes in on, and adjusts T cells, major immune system agents and targets of HIV infection. According to Clements, minocycline reduces the ability of T cells to activate and proliferate, both steps crucial to HIV production and progression toward full blown AIDS.

If taken daily for life, HAART usually can protect people from becoming ill, but it’s not a cure. The HIV virus is kept at a low level but isn’t ever entirely purged; it stays quietly hidden in some immune cells. If a person stops HAART or misses a dose, the virus can reactivate out of those immune cells and begin to spread.

The idea for using minocycline as an adjunct to HAART resulted when the Hopkins team learned of research by others on rheumatoid arthritis patients showing the anti-inflammatory effects of minocycline on T cells. The Hopkins group connected the dots between that study with previous research of their own showing that minocycline treatment had multiple beneficial effects in monkeys infected with SIV, the primate version of HIV. In monkeys treated with minocycline, the virus load in the cerebrospinal fluid, the viral RNA in the brain and the severity of central nervous system disease were significantly decreased. The drug was also shown to affect T cell activation and proliferation.

“Since minocycline reduced T cell activation, you might think it would have impaired the immune systems in the macaques, which are very similar to humans, but we didn’t see any deleterious effect,” says Gregory Szeto, a graduate student in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine working in the Retrovirus Laboratory at Hopkins. “This drug strikes a good balance and is ideal for HIV because it targets very specific aspects of immune activation.” The Times of India

Rating Alternative Medicine – 6

The most recent study of the relative merits of the various forms of therapy. It involves more than 1,600 patients—conducted that among patients with acute low-back pain, the outcomes are similar whether they receive care for primary-care doctors, chiropractors, or orthopedic surgeons. Moreover, this study found that “primary-care practitioners provide the least-expensive care for low-back pain. Nevertheless, patients expressed the greatest satisfaction with the treatment provided by chiropractors, even though the long-term outcome was no different. Patients found the chiropractors examinations more thorough and their explanations more reassuring.

There may be a role for chiropractic in areas other than treating low-back pain, according to a sampling of published scientific reports. These studies suggest that chiropractic may be helpful for treating bed-wetting in childhood, duodenal ulcers, facial muscles affected by Bell’s palsy, shoulder pain, carpal tunnel syndrome and headaches, among other conditions.

But you should also be aware that there have been instances of life threatening dissection (tearing) of major arteries to the brain during spinal manipulation. If you have any blood vessel problems, check with your doctor before seeing a chiropractor for such manipulation. Manipulation can also lead to complications in the lower spine such as bladder and rectal disturbances, leg weakness, and loss of sensation in the genital area.

THE BOTTOM LINE. I sometimes refer my patients with back pain to a chiropractor, though not a straight or mixer. I emphasize to the patient that there is no credible evidence that chiropractic does anything for AIDS, a heart attack, pneumonia or other diseases. If you are referred to a chiropractor, take sure he or she is licensed, and ask you doctor to discuss you case with the chiropractor before your visit.