[via aidsmap]
Use of the recreational drugs, cannabis, cocaine, poppers, or amphetamines, does not adversely affect the number or percentage of CD4 or CD8 cells in either HIV-positive or HIV-negative gay men, according to data from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) published online on January 3rd in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. However, the investigators did not measure the quality or function of these cells.
Animal and test tube studies have previously shown that recreational drugs such as cannabis (smoked as marijuana), cocaine, poppers, and amphetamines may adversely affect animal and human T cell responses.
Notably, cocaine given to HIV-infected mice greatly increased HIV levels and reduced CD4 cell counts to one ninth of the levels of the mice in the control group.
However, studies examining the impact of these recreational drugs on CD4 and CD8 T-cells in real life have reported inconsistent and conflicting findings, possibly due to confounding factors such as antiretroviral drug use, injecting drug use, and differences in the level and frequency of recreational drugs used over time.
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