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Glutathione and HIV infection: reduced reduced, or increased oxidized?
Author(s) -
Frank J. T. Staal
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
european journal of clinical investigation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.164
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1365-2362
pISSN - 0014-2972
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2362.1998.00268.x
Subject(s) - glutathione , intracellular , oxidative stress , immune system , immunology , redox , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , biology , medicine , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , enzyme , organic chemistry
Glutathione is the main intracellular defence against oxidative stress and regulates the cellular redox potential. HIV infection is accompanied by severe metabolic and immune dysfunctions. Several laboratories have demonstrated that the intracellular redox balance is disturbed in CD4+ T cells from HIV‐seropositive subjects, which may potentiate HIV replication and partly explain the immunological abnormalities associated with HIV disease. The importance of glutathione for immune function, regulation of gene expression, as well as therapeutic interventions with redox‐active drugs are discussed in this commentary.