Effects of Korean Red Ginseng and HAART onvifGene in 10 Long-Term Slow Progressors over 20 Years: High Frequency of Deletions and G-to-A Hypermutation

Young Keol Cho,Ba Reum Kim,Mee Soo Chang,Jung Eun Kim

doi:10.1155/2013/871648

Abstract

To investigate if Korean red ginseng (KRG) affects vif gene, we determined vif gene over 20 years in 10 long-term slowly progressing patients (LTSP) who were treated with KRG alone and then KRG plus HAART. We also compared these data with those of 21 control patients who did not receive KRG. Control patient group harbored only one premature stop codon (PSC) (0.9%), whereas the 10 LTSP revealed 78 defective genes (18.1%) (P < 0.001). The frequency of small in-frame deletions was found to be significantly higher in patients who received KRG alone (10.5%) than 0% in the pre-KRG or control patients (P < 0.01). Regarding HAART, vif genes containing PSCs were more frequently detected in patients receiving KRG plus HAART than patients receiving KRG alone or control patients (P < 0.01). In conclusion, our current data suggest that the high frequency of deletions and PSC in the vif gene is associated with KRG intake and HAART, respectively.

Highlights

Panax ginseng has a long history of medicinal use in Asia
The control patients (n = 21) were selected from 169 patients [20] who had not been exposed to Korean red ginseng (KRG) or any antiretroviral therapies (e.g., AZT) at the time of sampling and whose peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were available for gene amplification
KRG therapy was administered for 173 ± 34 months and, thereafter, KRG plus highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) was administered for 55 ± 26 months

Summary

Introduction

Panax ginseng has a long history of medicinal use in Asia. Ginseng is the best-selling herbal medicine in the world [1]. About 200 constituents of Korean ginseng have been isolated and characterized. Its major components include ginseng saponins and polysaccharides. The major pharmacological effects of ginseng include adaptogenic effects [2]; that is, ginseng nonspecifically increases the resistance to physical, chemical, and biological stress by immunomodulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis [3]. Recent studies have demonstrated ginseng’s potential use in adjuvant and immunotherapies [4,5,6,7,8]

Methods

Results

Conclusion