AIDS Research
Vitamins and immunomodulation in AIDS.
Nutrition 1996 Jan;12(1):1-7 (ISSN: 0899-9007)
Liang B; Chung S; Araghiniknam M; Lane LC; Watson RR Department
of Family and Community Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson 85724,
USA.
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a clinical disorder caused
by a retrovirus infection and represents the end point in a progressive
sequence of immunosuppressive changes. Vitamins can enhance disease resistance
in animals and humans. As such they are important co-factors in optimal
functioning of the immune systems. In this article, the immunological
and nutritional modifications caused by AIDS are summarized. The effects
of murine and human retrovirus infection on vitamin status are analyzed
as co-factors in the development of severe immune dysfunction, AIDS. The
properties of immunoenhancing antioxidative vitamins, vitamin A, B6, B12,
C, E, and beta-carotene, which are frequently low in AIDS patients, are
evaluated relative to the development of immunodeficiency during retrovirus
infection. Vitamin A, E, and B12 deficiency accelerated the development
of AIDS with low T cells, whereas their normalization retarded the development
of immune dysfunction. The interactions between these vitamins and the
immune system in human AIDS patients and animal models of AIDS are reviewed.
Our purpose is to provide data on how retrovirus infection can cause nutritional
deficiencies that accentuate immune damage and to evaluate the potential
therapeutic role of vitamins in the treatment of immune dysfunctions in
AIDS patients. |