Tyagi Mudit, Bukrinsky Michael, Simon Gary L
Department of Medicine, The George Washington University, 2300 Eye Street, N.W., Washington D.C., 20037, USA.
Curr HIV Res. 2016;14(5):442-454. doi: 10.2174/1570162x14666160324124736.
There is a strong correlation between the use and abuse of illicit drugs and the spread of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). It is well established that illicit drugs users are a high risk population for infection with HIV with an increased rate of HIV transmission and replication. Cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, heroin and morphine stand out as the most frequently abused illicit drugs and their use correlates well with HIV infection and AIDS progression. Notably, the high incidence of HIV infection in illicit drug abusers is primarily due to high risk activities such as needle sharing and unprotected sex. Several studies have also demonstrated that drugs of abuse increase viral RNA concentrations by enhancing HIV replication, in particular in the central nervous system (CNS). The CNS is a common target for both drugs of abuse and HIV, and their synergistic action accelerates neuronal injury and cognitive impairment. In order to generate complete genomic transcripts, HIV gene expression has to progress through both the initiation and elongation phases of transcription, which requires coordinated action of different transcription factors.
In this review, we will provide the latest updates of the molecular mechanisms that regulate HIV transcription and discuss how drugs of abuse, such as cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, heroin and morphine, modulate those mechanisms to upregulate HIV transcription and eventually HIV replication.
非法药物的使用与滥用和人类免疫缺陷病毒（HIV）的传播之间存在密切关联。众所周知，非法药物使用者是感染HIV的高危人群，HIV传播和复制率较高。可卡因、苯丙胺、甲基苯丙胺、海洛因和吗啡是最常被滥用的非法药物，它们的使用与HIV感染和艾滋病进展密切相关。值得注意的是，非法药物滥用者中HIV感染率高主要归因于共用针头和无保护性行为等高风险活动。多项研究还表明，滥用药物通过增强HIV复制，特别是在中枢神经系统（CNS）中，增加病毒RNA浓度。CNS是滥用药物和HIV的共同靶点，它们的协同作用加速神经元损伤和认知障碍。为了产生完整的基因组转录本，HIV基因表达必须经历转录的起始和延伸阶段，这需要不同转录因子的协同作用。
在本综述中，我们将提供调节HIV转录的分子机制的最新进展，并讨论可卡因、苯丙胺、甲基苯丙胺、海洛因和吗啡等滥用药物如何调节这些机制以上调HIV转录并最终促进HIV复制。
