AN ALTERATION OF CATALASE ACTIVITY LEVEL IN HIV(-USERS() INDIVIDUALS AND ILLICIT DRUG)

Illicit drug abuse has been believed to promote the progression of dis ease among HIV (+) population with a mechanism not-well understood. We examined a possible difference of catalase levels among the HIV (+) a nd the HIV (-) population associated with a background of drug use. We found that both HIV (+) and/or Drug (+) population had a significantl y suppressed catalase activity in mononuclear cells and in granulocyte s compared with the healthy donor population. In red blood cells, howe ver, the HIV (+) population had a significantly higher catalase activi ty than the HIV (-) population and the activity level among the HIV () population with a background of drug use was not as high as the leve l of the group with no drug history. Furthermore, the difference betwe en the two groups became remarkably evident among HIV (+) individuals whose CD4 count was below 500, while among HIV (+) individuals whose C D4 counts were more than 500, both groups showed a similar level of ca talase activity. These results suggest that the white blood cells incl uding CD4 T-lymphocytes are vulnerable to an oxidant insult in both HI V (+) and drug use populations, and that erythrocyte catalase is a som atic oxidant defence to respond to the systemic oxidative stress among the populations. The promotion of disease progression among HIV (+) i ndividuals by drug misuse is probably in part due to the unmatched ant ioxidant level for the oxidants generated.