De Simone C, Tzantzoglou S, Famularo G, Moretti S, Paoletti F, Vullo V, Delia S
Università di L'Aquila, Italy.
Immunopharmacol Immunotoxicol. 1993 Jan;15(1):1-12. doi: 10.3109/08923979309066930.
Several reports indicate that systemic carnitine deficiency could occur in acquired immunodeficiency disease syndrome (AIDS), and that primary and secondary carnitine deficiency leads to critical metabolic dysfunctions. L-carnitine supplementation to peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of AIDS patients resulted in significant enhancement of the phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-driven proliferative response. High dose L-carnitine administration (6 gr per day for two weeks) to AIDS patients treated with zidovudine also led to increased PBMCs proliferation and reduced blood levels of triglycerides. In addition, a reduction of beta 2-microglobulin serum levels as well as circulating tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, mostly in patients exhibiting highly elevated levels, were found at the end of the treatment period. Our data suggest that in vivo L-carnitine could prove useful in ameliorating both the immune response and lipid metabolism in patients with AIDS, irrespective of initial serum carnitines levels. The mechanism(s) accounting for the observed results are currently not clear. Further studies are needed to confirm the hypothesis that L-carnitine affects the expression of HIV-induced cytokine.
几份报告表明，获得性免疫缺陷综合征（艾滋病）可能会出现全身性肉碱缺乏，并且原发性和继发性肉碱缺乏会导致严重的代谢功能障碍。给艾滋病患者的外周血单个核细胞（PBMC）补充左旋肉碱，可显著增强植物血凝素（PHA）驱动的增殖反应。对接受齐多夫定治疗的艾滋病患者大剂量施用左旋肉碱（每天6克，持续两周），也会导致PBMC增殖增加以及血液中甘油三酯水平降低。此外，在治疗期结束时发现，β2-微球蛋白血清水平以及循环肿瘤坏死因子（TNF）-α有所降低，这一现象主要出现在那些水平极高的患者中。我们的数据表明，无论初始血清肉碱水平如何，体内左旋肉碱可能有助于改善艾滋病患者的免疫反应和脂质代谢。目前尚不清楚导致这些观察结果的机制。需要进一步研究来证实左旋肉碱影响HIV诱导细胞因子表达这一假说。
