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Is Taurine is a Pharmaco-Nutrient for HIV Positive Patients & beyond?

R C Gupta

 In spite of social awareness and advances in Medical sciences HIV/AIDS continue to be major health problem. A number of factors are responsible; which may include poor understanding of biology of virus its interaction with immune system, its negative impact on the development of metabolic disturbances leading to infection related amino acid imbalance. Patients with positivity for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV?) present low concentrations of antioxidant nutrients, including glutathione (GSH) and its precursors. Thus it is necessary to modulate immune system through correcting amino acids imbalance. Nutritional supplements have been designed, use and placed under broader term, immunonutrition, which subsequently constitute the term pharmaconutrition. Pharmaconutrients are not too many, basically extending their support as antioxidant and strengthens the ‘host defence’. Glutathione is sulphur amino acids family of which taurine is an important member. Chemically, taurine is; 2-Amino Ethane Sulfonic acid having wide range of beneficial actions. Taurine in the diets prevents the decline in T-cell that occurs with aging and enhanced the proliferative responses of T cells. Taurine anti oxidant action leads to ‘host defence ‘.Taurine scavenges the phagocyte microbicidal agent HOCl to form the more stable and less toxic taurine chloramine (Tauine -Cl) thus acting as cytoprotectant, in the attenuation of apoptosis. Taurine-Cl suppresses superoxide anion and decreases both NO and pro inflammatory cytokines. As phagocytes, body Taurine comes from diet or from biosynthesis. In HIV+ patients the low plasma Taurine followed the other thiol-antioxidant pattern. Use of taurine precursors in HIV+ diets resulted in higher production of glutathione (GSH) and Taurine . The enhanced Taurine synthesis pathways seem to be a host strategy to strengthen the cellular antioxidant capacity against the HIV progression. Thus there is a urgent need to develop microbicides having Taurine-Cl and derivatives .Along with taurine several derivatives are also found to be effective in protection and a number of taurine derivatives have been synthesised with partial to significant protection ;one of such series is water soluble taurine derivative with gossypol, showed reasonable inhibitory activities against HIV-1 replication, HIV-1 mediated cell-cell fusion. Development of taurine derivatives may constitute a new class of HIV inhibitors.