Expression profile of cytokines in patients infected with HIV-1 undergoing thalidomide treatment

• Grant number: 12/24798-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2013
• End date: December 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo Sobhie Diaz
• Grantee: Nathaly Cristina Martos Gibaile
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

HIV-1 is the main cause of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), characterized by low concentrations of CD4 + T lymphocytes and a high viral replication, leading to the appearance of opportunistic diseases. Most patients are treated with antiretroviral drugs, which act mainly on mechanisms of viral infection in order to reduce cell activation and thereby prevent an increase in viral load. However, there are cases where patients do not respond to these conventional treatments and new types of approaches have had to be made. One of the drugs now studied as a possible therapy is thalidomide, which acts primarily on the expression of various inflammatory cytokines which are molecules secreted by various cells in response to an antigen and act regulating several immune and inflammatory reactions. It was found that thalidomide acts primarily by decreasing the concentration of TNF-±, a cytokine very expressed at HIV-1, related to the increasing of viral replication in host cells. The expression of some cytokines will be analyzed by a system of multiple analysis, the Luminex xMAP 200. This analysis of the samples of infected pacients with HIV-1 treated with thalidomide can identify which cytokines have their concentrations altered by the infection, and in which of these molecules the drug is acting.