Vitamin E suppresses the development of murine AIDS through the inhibition of nuclear factor-kappa B expression

Abstract

We investigated the mechanisms of the inhibitory effect of vitamin E (VE; D-α-tocopherol acetate) on the development of LP-BM5 retrovirus-induced murine AIDS in comparison with azidothymidine (AZT). Both high VE diet and AZT treatment significantly inhibited the increase of spleen weight following the development of murine AIDS, which effect was greater in AZT than high VE diet. The increased levels of lipid peroxide in splenocytes of infected mice were restored by high VE diet or AZT treatment. In addition, decreased production of interferon-γ (INF-γ) and increased production of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) from splenocytes were also improved by high VE diet and AZT treatment. In splenic lymphocytes of infected mice, the expression of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) was strongly inhibited in both cytoplasm and nucleus by high VE diet, whereas AZT treatment had almost no effect. Furthermore, the expression of NF-κB in the nucleus of splenic lymphocytes was inhibited by in vitro treatment with VE, but enhanced by AZT treatment. These results suggest that VE inhibits the development of murine AIDS through the inhibition of NF-κB expression, which mechanism was different from AZT.