Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have found that antiretroviral drugs can prevent the development of multiple sclerosis. results published In Annals of Neurology.
Antiretroviral therapy is a method of treating HIV infection that involves the regular use of two or more antiviral drugs. To determine the connection of such treatment with the risk of developing multiple sclerosis, scientists analyzed information on the health status of more than 29 thousand HIV-infected people using large population databases in Canada and Sweden. The study also included data from healthy people.
Researchers compared the incidence of new cases of multiple sclerosis between people with HIV and healthy participants. Over more than a decade of observations, they found that only 14 out of 29,000 people infected with HIV developed multiple sclerosis. Compared to the general population of Canada and Sweden, people with HIV were 47% less likely to develop the disease. People receiving antiretroviral therapy were particularly unlikely to develop this disease. Women with HIV who took a complex of antiviral drugs suffered from sclerosis 72% less often than the rest of the population.
HIV causes the progressive loss of immune cells called CD4+ T cells. They also contribute to the development of multiple sclerosis by triggering a series of mechanisms that lead to inflammation in the brain and spinal cord. Scientists have suggested that CD4+T is suppressed by antiretroviral drugs, which prevents multiple sclerosis.
Previously named Remedies against colds that are dangerous for hypertension patients.