Hate to put a damper on your Saturday (Tuesday) night plans, kids, but mom just got word that blowing coke can make your more vulnerable to HIV. At least, that’s what a new UCLA study — published in the latest issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology—suggests.
The study found that cocaine has a two-pronged effect on HIV transmission. First, it renders immune cells vulnerable to HIV infection. These cells, called quiescent CD4 T cells, are HIV resistant under normal circumstances. Second, cocaine actually increases the viral reservoir — or the number of T cells susceptible to HIV infection — in a person’s body.
The in vitro study was conducted on cells harvested from healthy donors. It found “that a three-day exposure to cocaine enhanced infection.” Dimitrios Vatakis, the study’s senior author, explained, “The surprising result was that the changes cocaine induced on these cells were very minimal, yet they were sufficient to fuel infection. We found that cocaine mediates its effects directly, inducing minimal changes in the physiology of these cells and utilizing the same pathways it uses to target the brain.”
The authors noted the results are not conclusive, citing the pitfalls of in vitro testing. At the same time, they cautioned, “The potential for cocaine to augment the pool of HIV target cells with a commensurate increase in the viral reservoir has significant implications for HIV seropositive individuals who abuse or use stimulants such as cocaine.”
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Moving forward, the researchers will begin testing on mice to get a better sense of how stimulant abuse might impact a human’s susceptibility to HIV infection. Meanwhile, if and when those researchers find their mice missing, they might want to check on the floor of 54 under Liza’s Halston capelet.
Katbox
o.o
Circuit queens.
breslowilario
my buddy’s ex-wife makes *67 hourly on the laptop. She has been without work for five months but last month her pay was *13537 just working on the laptop for a few hours. More about the author…….
http://www.max61.com
viveutvivas
In vitro studies mean absolutely nothing.
Tom-NY
This hypothesis of cocaine use doesn’t appear to account for the 69% of the world’s AIDS population living on the Africa continent where cocaine use is not socially prevalent.
2eo
@Tom-NY: I missed the part where it was speaking about proving cocaine caused AIDS. But then I read the study so it was impossible to arrive at that conclusion.
boring
But in turn, snorting cocaine can also make you more susceptible to GOOD TIMES.
Liam Sauer-Wooden
They’ve been arguing this for the past 20 years, and they still have no proof that the claim is true. It’s like the claim that amyl nitrate caused Karposi’s sarcoma: they lacked proof because they two weren’t linked anywhere outside of anti-Gay conservative’s minds.
Stache1
Mostly what I’ve got out of it mirrors my own experiences. If you do drugs you increase the likely hood of infection ie less immune. I have 3 bottom friends who left all caution to the wind and had plenty of sex 70’s style but didn’t abuse drugs and never sero converted.
If you’re HIV positive and you regularly do drugs you’ll most certainly be expediting yourself to full blown Aids. I’ve lost a few friends to that. They led the party lifestyle. What takes many years is condensed down to a year or 2.
bigomega73
@boring: LOL! Win!
Triple S
Maybe it helps HIV along, maybe it doesn’t. But perhaps you just shouldn’t do it? 😛 Call me a prude if you wish, but I’m not going to risk anything close to being sold something CALLED Cocaine and it turning out to be contaminated and lethal to my health.
Using party drugs is just begging for something to go wrong. That being said, I think they should be legalised, but regulated so as to more carefully make sure that repeat drug users don’t keep going. But really, I see needing a chemical to make myself have a nice time a bit dumb. Shouldn’t I be able to have fun while still being able to control myself? Alcohol will do me just fine 🙂
Bozen
Well, obviously.
boring
@Triple S: Suggesting that alcohol is somehow not altering your perception is absolutely, startlingly absurd.
Cobalt Blue
Listen,boys. You are fags…This is hard to straights swallow…And than you go on drugs, and than you go further and get AIDS…and the LGBT community expects to be seen as a model or at least in the same lavel as others but people only see in this said community lack of integrity, lack of self respect, selfish and childish behavior…A pitiable disfunctional and lost bunch of fags.
Jake357
@Cobalt Blue: No one here has a clue what you just wrote. ESL classes are each Tuesday and Thursday night at the community college at 7 pm in room 201.
Stache1
@Cobalt Blue: You know it must be tough being a gay man that hates himself and trolling sites displaying all that closeted pent up hate. I’ve seen your other posts and it’s always the same theme. Says way more about you then your dumb shit rants.
Jackhoffsky
(1) who does cocaine anymore?
(2) this is an in vitro study… so it doesn’t include stuff like a person (or a group of person’s) biological reactions to cocaine or behavioral patterns to the drug.
(3) WHO DOES COCAINE ANYMORE?
CeciliaRooney
my Aunty Madison just got a new white Mercedes-Benz E-Class Sedan just by parttime work online… my response,,, korta.nu/lvx0w