An approach to AIDS therapy using hyperthermia and membrane modification

Blood-specific whole-body electromagnetic hyperthermia

On the basis of the physical properties of magnetic fluids a new technique of whole-body hyperthermia is proposed. Subdomain dextran stabilized magnetite particles injected into the blood-stream can be efficiently heated using an external high-frequency magnetic field, which allows rapid and controllable delivery of heat to the patient's blood, which may be useful for the treatment of cancer and AIDS.

Extracorporeal whole body hyperthermia treatment of HIV patients, a feasibility study

The literature supports that the retrovirus, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which is thought to cause Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), is heat sensitive at temperatures which can be achieved in man. Invasive or non-invasive induction of whole body hyperthermia (WBH) has been used to treat an array of illnesses, primarily in the field of oncology, until recently. Non-invasive methods have proven to be less toxic than invasive means. However, new technology and refined patient management have shown a dramatic decrease in the side effects with extracorporeal whole body hyperthermia (EWBH). The Food and Drug Administration granted a prospective trial for six HIV positive/AIDS patients to undergo a single treatment of EWBH, with patients randomized to a core temperature of either 41 or 42 degrees C. All patients had failed antiretrovirals and experienced at least one episode of an opportunistic infection. Organetics, Ltd., PS-1 extracorporeal, centrifugal pump device was used to induce EWBH. Results of this feasibility study demonstrated the ability of this equipment and technique to induce EWBH with acceptable toxicity. It was not possible to assess efficacy in this small study.

Effect of whole-body hyperthermia on AIDS patients with Kaposi's sarcoma: a pilot study

The safety and possible efficacy of extracorporeal whole-body hyperthermia (WBHT) were evaluated in the first FDA-approved feasibility study of WBHT in persons with AIDS. Six gay men, aged 20-50 years, CDC class C-3, underwent 1 h of WBHT at either 40 degrees C or 42 degrees C, employing a system that minimizes the physiological and biochemical changes that occur during WBHT. All subjects had Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), were free of opportunistic infections, and had significant elevations of plasma HIV RNA. During the treatment, there were no adverse side effects and all subjects tolerated WBHT without problems. KS lesions partially regressed immediately following WBHT in all subjects but returned to pretreatment status in five of six patients at 1 week. In subjects treated at 40 degrees C, CD4 counts decreased during the 8-week follow-up period; they remained unchanged, however, following 42 degrees C WBHT. Viral load remained unchanged following WBHT in subjects treated at 40 degrees C. Treatment at 42 degrees C resulted in an immediate reduction in HIV RNA that was not sustained at 1 week post-WBHT. We conclude that WBHT is safe in subjects with advanced HIV disease and that it may have a role in treating HIV infection. A larger controlled trial involving two treatments in less immunocompromised subjects is currently in progress to test this hypothesis.

Mechanism of the effect of thermotherapy as applied to AIDS

Artificially induced thermal intermittence using thermogenic agents was utilized to treat AIDS patients in an attempt to make an analogy with the sterilization process by tyndallization employed in laboratories. It is known that micro-organisms are more sensitive to discontinuous than to constant heat. The author believes that the AIDS virus may be either destroyed or weakened using this method which may also provoke an immune stimulus over the body's system of defense, especially over the bone marrow, with the consequent increase of the indexes of lymphocins, opsonins and hematogenesis.

Hyperthermic therapy for HIV infection

The objective of this paper is to review what is known about the antiviral effects of fever and to highlight the scientific evidence supporting the hypothesis that hyperthermic therapy may prove to be a beneficial treatment modality for persons infected with HIV. Our hyperthermic hypothesis is based upon the mutant escape, quasispecies theory of HIV antigenic diversity. We propose that, if initiated during the asymptomatic stage of HIV infection, hyperthermia may prove to decrease the number of mutant HIV strains arising due to evolutionary pressures created by the patient's immune system, with a resultant prolongation of the asymptomatic period of infection. A review of the literature from three areas of investigation: the immune response to fever, heat as a tumor killing agent, and preliminary studies with fever and retroviral infections, strongly suggests that there is a good scientific basis for the use of hyperthermic therapy in a multimodal treatment approach to HIV infection.

Omega-3 fatty acids as coadjuvant treatment in AIDS

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), is able to replicate in many human cells such as helper lymphocytes, monocytes/macrophages and glial cells. Monocytes/macrophages must be considered an important reservoir of HIV in vivo and a producer of cytokines such as Interleukin-1 (IL1) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF). These substances lead to an autocrine feedback loop that produces an increased virus replication and a secondary induction of other cytokines such as Interleukin 6 (IL6) and granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). These cytokines all together may be responsible for many clinical aspects of the disease such as headache, fever, anorexia, subtle cognitive changes, motor disfunctions and cachexia. The future strategies in the treatment of AIDS must be a combination of drugs acting on different points of viral replication and with synergistic potential. Omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3) can be considered a candidate for their pleiotropic effects on immunological and metabolic systems. In particular, their use is considered for their ability to decrease IL1 and TNF production by monocytes/macrophages, as demonstrated by many authors. The decreased induction of these cytokines and consequently of IL6 and acute phase proteins may have beneficial effects on many clinical manifestations of AIDS such as cachexia.

Effects of temperature on phagocytosis of human and calf polymorphonuclear leukocytes

The in vitro effect of temperature on the phagocytic function of human and calf polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) was studied. To observe the PMN phagocytic function (PPF) at various temperatures, PMN from healthy human and calf donors were incubated with serum-opsonized fluorescent latex particles (diameter 1.66 microns) at 25, 37, 40, 42, 44, or 46 degrees C for 1 h and then observed for their phagocytic activity by fluorescent microscopy. At 25, 40, and 42 degrees C, human PPF was not significantly different from that at 37 degrees C (87%, 89%, and 80% vs. 93%). At 44 degrees C, PPF was noticeably depressed (19%, p < 0.05) when compared to that at 37 degrees C. Next, to determine the critical temperature and duration of exposure that would irreversibly damage PPF, PMN were preincubated at 42, 44, or 46 degrees C for 5-30 min before being subjected to a standard phagocytosis assay at 37 degrees C. The human PPF was significantly depressed after 30 min at 44 degrees C (33%, p < 0.05) or 10 min at 46 degrees C (30%, p < 0.05). In conclusion, neither human nor calf PPF was significantly altered at and below 42 degrees C. In contrast, the PPF was irreversibly and time-dependently damaged when incubated at and above 44 degrees C.