Adverse reactions to sulfonamides were initially described more than 50 years ago. It is not yet clear whether these side effects are due to immunological reactions or drug toxicity. More than 50% of AIDS patients develop adverse reactions to sulfamethoxazole, a sulfonamide drug commonly used for the treatment of infections in these individuals. In order to study the possible role of the humoral immune response in adverse reactions to SMX in HIV-seropositive patients, I designed an ELISA to determine the classes, subclasses and the quantities of the immunoglobulins directed against SMX. Twenty eight HIV-seropositive individuals with a history of adverse reactions to SMX, 20 HIV-seropositive individuals with no such history, and 39 healthy infants and adults were evaluated for the presence of anti-SMX antibodies. To evaluate the cellular immune response in vitro, lymphocyte proliferation assays were performed in the presence of SMX or structurally related compounds. The lymphocytes from HIV-seropositive patients did not proliferate or produce antibody when incubated with these compounds. Only one immunocompetent individual who had a known hypersensitivity to SMX demonstrated high lymphocyte proliferation to SMX-PLL, but not to structurally related compounds. The mechanism of the development of side effects to SMX is complex, and likely involves both toxic and immunologic events. It may be that high blood levels of SMX may lead to an immune response which produces symptoms only when specific antibody levels have exceeded a certain threshold. The detection of antibodies to SMX may be useful in predicting and managing the adverse reactions to this compound in HIV-seropositive individuals. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/6759 |
| Date | January 1993 |
| Creators | Daftarian, Mohammad Pirouz. |
| Contributors | Diaz-Mitoma, F., |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 124 p. |
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