The Open Virology Journal
2008, 2 : 24-31Published online 2008 March 28. DOI: 10.2174/1874357900802010024
Publisher ID: TOVJ-2-24
RESEARCH ARTICLE
HIV–1 Antigens in Neurons of Cocaine-Abusing Patients
1
Departments of Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA
2 Department of Neurology, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA
3 University of Chicago, Department of Medicine, Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA
4 Medical College of Georgia, Vascular Biology Center, Augusta, Georgia, USA
5 Department of Neurobiology, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA
6 Department of Molecular Medicine and Center for Molecular Delivery, University of South Florida College of Medicine, Tampa, Florida, USA
7 Department of Surgery, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
8 Laboratory of Cell Culture, Neuroanatomy and Experimental Neuropathology, New Jersey Neuroscience Institute and JFK Medical Center, Edison, New Jersey, USA
9 New York State Office of Mental Retardation, Department of Pathological Neurobiology, New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, New York, USA
* Address correspondence to this author at the Orthopaedic Hospital Research Center, 615 Charles E. Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095-735 8, USA; Tel: 310 206-6392; Fax: 310 825-5409; E-mail: fiala@mednet.ucla.edu
2 Department of Neurology, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA
3 University of Chicago, Department of Medicine, Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA
4 Medical College of Georgia, Vascular Biology Center, Augusta, Georgia, USA
5 Department of Neurobiology, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA
6 Department of Molecular Medicine and Center for Molecular Delivery, University of South Florida College of Medicine, Tampa, Florida, USA
7 Department of Surgery, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
8 Laboratory of Cell Culture, Neuroanatomy and Experimental Neuropathology, New Jersey Neuroscience Institute and JFK Medical Center, Edison, New Jersey, USA
9 New York State Office of Mental Retardation, Department of Pathological Neurobiology, New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, New York, USA
* Address correspondence to this author at the Orthopaedic Hospital Research Center, 615 Charles E. Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095-735 8, USA; Tel: 310 206-6392; Fax: 310 825-5409; E-mail: fiala@mednet.ucla.edu
ABSTRACT
Cocaine opens the blood-brain barrier by deregulating transcription of target genes. Here we show that cocaine at blood concentrations in drug abusers disrupts endothelial cell junctions in parallel with signaling by phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase, myristoylated alanine-rich C kinase and myosin light chain. Cocaine effects may be important in vivo since the neurons of drug abusing patients with HIV-1 associated dementia displayed gp120, p24 and Nef.