Role for minocycline in HIV infection of brain
Minocycline might have a role in the treatment of patients infected with HIV, a new study suggests. The antibiotic has potent anti-inflammatory
and neuroprotective properties and researchers have shown that it has
the potential to protect against the negative effects of HIV on the
brain and central nervous system (CNS).
Christine Zink, professor of comparative medicine at Johns Hopkins University
school of medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, and colleagues explain that
few antiretroviral drugs are able to cross the blood–brain barrier
and so do not alter the inflammatory responses that occur during CNS
viral infection. They therefore used minocycline, which is able to cross
the barrier, to treat macaque monkeys infected with SIV (simian immunodeficiency
virus, which is used as a model of HIV and shares key features of HIV
CNS infection).
The researchers found that after 84 days of SIV infection two of the
five monkeys treated with the antibiotic showed signs of mild encephalitis.
Of the six untreated monkeys, five had evidence of moderate or severe
encephalitis.
“Given that the prevalence of HIV CNS disease has not declined
in the era of highly active antiretroviral treatment, this finding may
have
important implications for future studies on the prevention and treatment
of HIV,” the researchers say.
In another experiment, involving cultures of macrophages and lymphocytes,
the researchers found that minocycline inhibited the replication of SIV
and HIV. They say that the antibiotic is unlikely to have classic antiviral
activity and propose that it modifies the intracellular or extracellular
environment making the cells less conducive to viral replication (JAMA 2005;293:2003).
A multicentre clinical trial is planned to test whether minocycline has
the same effects in HIV-infected people. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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