(EMBARGOED) CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have shown that men infected with HIV will more rapidly develop AIDS as stressful events accumulate in their lives or if their social supports are weak.
The new findings carry important implications both for understanding the progression of AIDS and possible treatments for HIV, according to Dr. Jane Leserman, research associate professor of psychiatry at the UNC-CH School of Medicine.
"This is perhaps among the most compelling evidence to date linking psychosocial variables with HIV progression," she says. "Along with considering the more biological aspects of AIDS, we should consider the relevance of psychological aspects of this illness".
A report of the study appears in the May issue of the journal Psychosomatic Medicine. Leserman, who is part of a research team of eight scientists from North Carolina, Florida and Pennsylvania, notes that the new findings build upon those reported earlier by her team. They studied 82 HIV-infected gay men over a period of 5 1/2 years. The men first enrolled in the study between 1990 and 1992 and were without AIDS symptoms at that time.
In a two-year follow-up of the group, severe stress and depressive symptoms, especially when they occurred jointly, were associated with greater decreases in immunity -- specifically, some of the immune system's natural killer cells and CD8 T lymphocytes.
"At that point, because we knew that CD8 and natural killer cells were involved in host defenses against viral disease and that CD8 might inhibit HIV-1 replication, we went on to look at the relevance of these findings to disease progression. The results from our current study are the first to link stressful life events with progression to AIDS," Leserman says.
At 5 1/2 years into the study, 33 percent of the men had developed AIDS - that
is, their CD4 immune "helper" T cell count drop
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Contact: Lynn Wooten
LWooten@unch.unc.edu
919-966-6046
University of North Carolina School of Medicine
24-May-1999