Cholesterol lowering drugs for AIDS

Statin drugs that lower cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease may also help slow down the AIDS virus. Researchers from the Spanish Council for Scientific Research in Madrid, found that statins alone given to HIV-infected patients suppressed the virus and helped replenish immune cells known as T-cells. The drugs seem to stop the virus from infecting cells by stopping them from breaking through the cell membrane, and by stopping the virus from being released from cells that are already infected. The human immuno deficiency virus (HIV) infects T cells. The virus injects its genetic material into the cells and forces them to become virus factories, pumping out more copies of the virus. Eventually the immune system is destroyed and patients die of a range of illnesses. There is no cure as yet and more than 25 million people have died of AIDS globally. Treatment with a combination of drugs, called highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), can suppress the virus and allow the immune system to function, but they are expensive and have side effects. One side effect is called lipodystrophy, a series of metabolic changes that can raise cholesterol levels and cause a redistribution of body fat. Some patients with lipodystrophy have been treated with statins. To find whether statins themselves could affect the course of infection, researchers first tested HIV-infected cells in a lab model and then in mice. Results suggested that HIV-1 entry into and exit from the host cell require actin cytoskeleton rearrangement and adequate cholesterol levels in host and viral membranes. The cytoskeleton is the structure of the cell itself. Then they tested six people infected with HIV who had not begun HAART. These patients received lovastatin for a month. Levels of the virus fell and T-cell count went up. When the patients stopped taking the statin, the viral levels rebounded. The study suggests that statins can inhibit HIV-1 replication in chronically infected individuals.

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