Chinese Herb Extract Helps Immunity Cells Fight HIV And Slow Aging Process
Chemical from the Astragalus root, frequently used in Chinese herbal therapy, may help in the fight against HIV and raises the possibility of slowing the ageing process in other parts of our bodies.
Immune cells lose the ability to divide as they age. This hapens because a part of their chromosomes known as a telomere becomes progressively shorter with cell division. As a result, the cell changes in many ways, and its disease fighting ability is compromised.
TAT2, can prevent or slow this progressive telomere shortening.
Telomere can be rebuilt with an enzyme called telomerase, and some people have suggested it might be possible to extend human life by boosting telomerase production.
Rita Effrosa, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and member of the UCLA AIDS institute, has used a drug that boosts telomerase to enhance the immune response to viruses.
They took killer T-cells from HIV infected people and exposed them to TAT2. TAT2 is a drug extracted from the root of a plant called Astragalus that is thought to boost telomerase production and is traditionally used in Chinese medicine as a boost for the immune system.
TAT2 is developed by Geron Corporation of Menlo Park, Califonia,
TAT2 reduced telomere shortening, increased cells’ ability to divide, and enhanced their antiviral activity.
This effect was blocked when a second drug was used to inhibit telomerase, suggesting that TAT2 was indeed working through the enzyme.
TAT2 could be used to supplement existing anti-retroviral drugs, by boosting the immune systems of people wih HIV infection.
