the novel study of imodtm against hiv-1, p24 production

aids (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), a result of human hiv (human immunodeficinency virus) infection, is one of the most troublesome world's health problems. extensive researches to find effective drugs for its treatment are running fast in huge capacities. imod (immuno-modulator drug) is the name of an herbal drug that has modulatory effects of immune system. as a goal of this research, imod was tested to determine its effect on hiv-infected cells, and whether it can inhibit viral p24 gag protein production or not. human pbmcs (peripheral blood mononuclear cell) isolated from peripheral blood by ficoll-gradient centrifugation from two groups including 15 hiv-infected patients and 5 non-infected persons as the control group. then the cells were cultured and the plates were incubated for 3 days in a humidified co2 incubator at 37◦c. then imod and azt (zidovodine) were added to the progeny of each flask. after 48 hours, the amount of p24 in supernatant was evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa). it was demonstrated that the concentration of p24 in azt treated flask was low but in imod treated flasks was variable. our study reveals that imod couldn't inhibit p24 production in hiv positive individuals, although this conclusion is only based in vitro study and specific research which must be tested in vivo. in conclusion, although azt group has higher viral load but it can release p24 antigen more than imod treated groups.