AIDS, acquired immuno deficiency syndrome

AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome) poses a threat to India as a large number of people are infected with HTV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). There are no drugs today for AIDS. The problem which has dogged anti- HIV drugs is that resistant mutant forms of virus are formed within mere weeks. Lot of research work is to be done in search of a vaccine against HIV. 

Age-related macular degeneration 1280 Agrohacterium tumefaciens 903, 950 AIDS (acquired immuno deficiency syndrome) 14... 

Inspite of all the qualified successes of synthetic drug research achieved in the last four decades to combat infectious diseases of the more than 80,000 different ailments, unfortunately only about one third can be treated with drugs, most of them only symptomatically. The discovery of better, effective and safer drugs is needed to fight the causes of dreadful diseases like cancer, acquired-immuno-deficiency-syndrome (AIDS), arthritis, cardio-vascular diseases, disorders of the central nervous system (CNS), such as Alzheimer s disease and other vital infectious and metabolic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. 

Both avarol and avarone inhibit replication of the ethiological agent of acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome (AIDS) [77], Additionally, avarol and avarone effectively control acute inflammation in experimental models after either oral or topical administration. Their anti-inflammatory activity may result from inhibition of eicosanoid release and depression of superoxide generation in leukocytes [78], Several studies reviewed the structures and bioactivity of compounds related to avarone as an antihuman immuno-deficiency virus (HIV), antitopoisomerase II activity and as proteinkinase C (PKC) inhibitors [3, 79],... 

A comparison of the costs of on-the-job illnesses to the costs of illnesses in the general public, is quite revealing. The cost of acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was estimated at 30 billion. Alzheimer s disease was estimated to cost 66 billion. Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease is estimated at 164 billion. In 1992 the costs of cancer were estimated at 170 billion. 

Acetylcysteine (Fluimucil) is being tested as an immuno-modulator in acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). 

Heparin and other sulfated polysaccharides extracted from sea algae were found to be potent and selective inhibitors of the HIV-1 replication in cell culture as well as various enveloped viruses, including viruses that emerge as opportunistic pathogens (eg, herpes simplex virus and cytomegalovirus) in immuno-suppressed [eg, AIDS (the acquired immune deficiency syndrome)] patients. As potential anti-HIV drug candidates, sulfated polysaccharides offer a number of promising features (209,210). 

The causative agent of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is an enveloped virus (the human immuno-deficiency vims, HfV-1), a member of the retrovirus family (see Chapter 50 in this volume) [2]. An extensive part of the virion surface is predicted to be covered by carbohydrate as 50% of the molecular mass of the major envelope glycoprotein is carbohydrate in the form of oligosaccharide chains attached to the polypeptide backbone. 

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