ScienceHIVcocaine hiv riskcocaine use hiv susceptibility

Cocaine, HIV Linked In Research That Suggests Use Of Drug Boosts Vulnerability To Virus

Ominous Link Found Between Cocaine, Deadly Virus
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Law student & former journalist

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Cocaine may not only rewire the brain after one use, but could also increase users' susceptibility to HIV, a new study suggests.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that a specific type of immune cell becomes susceptible to the virus after cocaine use.

"Our studies focused on a unique population of immune cells (cells that constitute our body's defenses against infection), quiescent CD4 T cells, which can be targeted by HIV but are resistant to the virus," lead researcher Dr. Dimitrios Vatakis, co-director of UCLA's CFAR Virology Core Laboratory, told The Huffington Post in an email. "We have shown that cocaine exposure sensitizes these cells and increases their susceptibility to infection."

To test their hypothesis, the researchers collected samples of these dormant immune cells, which constitute the majority of T cells in the body, from healthy human donors. The samples were then exposed to cocaine and infected with HIV in a laboratory setting.

Comparing the infected samples to healthy cells, researchers found that the HIV infection was enhanced within cells that were dosed with cocaine over a period of three days. This suggests that cocaine use not only makes these immune cells more susceptible to HIV but also may hasten the actual integration and growth of the virus.

Cocaine -- or, more specifically, crack cocaine -- was linked previously to an acceleration of the CD4 cell count. Research published in 2010 indicated that this acceleration has the potential to speed the progression of HIV infection to full-blown AIDS.

Earlier this year, another study revealed that an HIV protein involved in the transcription of the virus boosts the effects of cocaine in mice.

The new study was published in the October issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology.

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Before You Go

10 Important HIV/AIDS Discoveries
1. Most Don't Have Their Infection Under Control (01 of10)
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Only one quarter of the 1.1 million people with HIV have their condition under control, where "under control" means the virus has been suppressed, according to a report released this summer by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CORRECTION: The first sentence has been reworded to more accurately reflect the number of people with HIV. (credit:Alamy)
2. Experiments With Bone Marrow Transplants Have Been Unsuccessful To Date(02 of10)
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Even though two men were, for a time, able to go off antiretrovirals because their HIV had been reduced to undetectable levels after receiving bone marrow transplants, the HIV eventually returned in the men, according to news reports.In 2012, the news of the men’s undetectable HIV levels made headlines. The men, who were both HIV positive and taking antiretroviral drugs, had received bone marrow transplants for Hodgkin’s lymphoma. They had received the transplants while they were also taking the antiretroviral medication. However, in late 2013, preliminary results showed that the HIV had returned. This slide has been updated to note more recent developments related to the procedure. (credit:Alamy)
3. No-Cost HIV Treatment Could Cut New Infection Rates(03 of10)
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New HIV infection rates can be dramatically lowered by making antiretroviral drugs free, a study from Canadian researchers found. The Canadian Press reported on the study, conducted by B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV-AIDS researchers, which showed that British Columbia -- a province that offers free access to antiretroviral therapy -- had the lowest rate of new HIV infections over a more-than-10-year period, compared with Ontairio and Quebec. (credit:Alamy)
4. Many Young People Don't Know Their HIV Status (04 of10)
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More than half of HIV-infected young people are unaware that they have the virus, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report."Given everything we know about HIV and how to prevent it in 30 years of fighting the disease, it's just unacceptable that young people are becoming infected at such high rates," Reuters reported CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden saying. The report also showed that for young people, 72 percent of the new HIV infections were in men who have sex with men, while almost 50 percent were in young, African-American males, Reuters reported. These figures are based on 2010 data. (credit:Alamy)
5. More People Are Living With HIV Than 10 Years Ago(05 of10)
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The number of people living with HIV has increased by 18 percent from 2001 to 2011, according to a report released this year from the United Nations Programme on AIDS. An estimated 34.2 million people around the world are living with HIV. The report also showed that deaths from AIDS have dropped, from 2.3 million in 2005-2006 to 1.7 million in 2011, Reuters reported. (credit:Alamy)
6. The Cost Of HIV Drugs Is Decreasing(06 of10)
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According to the same United Nations report, costs for the cheapest UN-recommended antiretroviral therapy drugs have also decreased over the past 10 years, Reuters reported. A year's worth of the drugs used to cost $10,000 in 2000 for one person; now, it costs $100 a year. (credit:Alamy)
7. HIV Treatment Truvada Can Also Be Used As A Preventive Measure(07 of10)
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The Food and Drug Administration this year officially approved the drug Truvada -- which has been used since 2004 as a treatment for HIV -- to be sold as a preventive measure for people who don't have the infection, but are at high risk for it.The FDA said that the pill should be considered for preventive use not only by gay or bisexual men who are at high risk for HIV, but also heterosexual men and women who may also face HIV risks, the Associated Press reported. Heterosexual men and women make up more than one-fourth of new cases of HIV, and "that's not a portion of the epidemic we want to ignore," the CDC's Dr. Dawn Smith, who was the lead author of the new recommendations, told the Associated Press. The FDA also approved a new drug this year, Stribild, to treat HIV, Reuters reported. (credit:Getty Images)
8. Engineered Stem Cells Could Play A Part In Fighting HIV(08 of10)
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In findings published this year in the journal PLoS Pathogens, scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles found that it's possible to genetically engineer stem cells to attack living HIV-infected cells in mice. While the study was only for "proof-of-principle," it "lays the groundwork for the potential use of this type of an approach in combating HIV infection in infected individuals, in hopes of eradicating the virus from the body," study researcher Dr. Scott G. Kitchen, an assistant professor of medicine at UCLA, said in a statement. (credit:Alamy)
9. Pretty Much Everyone Should Be Screened For HIV(09 of10)
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People should be screened for HIV even if they're not at high risk of contracting the infection, according to draft recommendations released just last month by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The recommendations would mean that everyone between the ages of 15 and 65 should be screened for HIV, even if they're not at high risk for it, Reuters reported. "The prior recommendations were for screening high-risk adults and adolescents," Dr. Douglas Owens, a member of the USPSTF task force and a Stanford University medical professor, told Reuters. "The current recommendation is for screening everyone, regardless of their risk." (credit:Alamy)
10. People Should Be Treated With Antiretrovirals As Soon As They're Diagnosed WIth HIV (10 of10)
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All HIV patients should be treated immediately with antiretrovirals, according to new guidelines issued this year from a panel of the International Antiviral Society-USA, as reported by TIME. The recommendations are counter to previous guidelines, which said that antiretrovirals should only be used if the CD4 count -- a measure of immune cells in a person's body -- becomes less than 350 cells for every mm3 of blood. (credit:Alamy)
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