SELENIUM SUPPLEMENTATION SUPPRESSES TUMOR-NECROSIS-FACTOR ALPHA-INDUCED HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS TYPE-1 REPLICATION IN-VITRO

Selenium is a nutritionally essential trace element that is important for optimal function of the immune system, It is incorporated into sel enoproteins as the amino acid selenocysteine and it is known to inhibi t the expression of some viruses, In this study, we show that selenium supplementation for 3 days prior to exposure to tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) partially suppresses the induction of human immunod eficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) replication in both chronically infecte d T lymphocytic and monocytic cell lines, In acute HIV-1 infection of T lymphocytes and monocytes in the absence of exogenous TNF-alpha, the suppressive effect of selenium supplementation was not observed, Howe ver, selenium supplementation did suppress the enhancing effect of TNF -alpha on HIV-1 replication in vitro in acutely infected human monocyt es, but not in T lymphocytes, Selenium supplementation also increased the activities of the selenoproteins, glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and thioredoxin reductase (TR), which serve as cellular antioxidants, Tak en together, these results suggest that selenium supplementation may p rove beneficial as an adjuvant therapy for AIDS through reinforcement of endogenous antioxidative systems.