Methamphetamine is a highly addictive psychostimulantthat is among the most widely abused illicit drugs, with anestimated 15 – 16 million users in the world. Several lines ofevidence suggest that chronic methamphetamine abuse isthe major factor for the increased risks of infections withhuman immunodeficiency virus and possibly other patho-gens, due to the immunosuppressive property of this drug.Influenza A virus infections frequently cause epidemics andpandemics of respiratory disease. However, there is littleknown about whether methamphetamine has the ability toenhance influenza A virus replication, increasing suscepti-bility to infections in methamphetamine abusers. Herein, weinvestigated the effects of methamphetamine on influenza Avirus replication in the human lung epithelia cell line A549.We report the first evidence that methamphetamine reducesexpression and delays localization of viral proteins, resultingin a reduced viral propagation. The underlying mechanism(s)responsible for the action of methamphetamine on attenuatingviral replication was explored and discussed.
Date:
2011-04
Relation:
Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology. 2011 Apr;6(Suppl. 1):S27.
