Anti-inflammatory pain relievers may fight viruses

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Anti-inflammatory pain relievers may fight viruses

NEW YORK, Feb 25 (Reuters Health) - Certain pain relievers, including

aspirin, might actually be able to fight some viruses instead of just

treating virus symptoms such as fever, researchers report.

In a laboratory study, investigators in New Jersey have found that the group

of pain relievers that inhibit an enzyme known as COX-2 prevent reproduction

of a virus called human cytomegalovirus (CMV). This squelching effect, which

can be accomplished by aspirin and other drugs, might very well apply to

other viruses, according to an independent expert.

Even if the results apply only to CMV, the findings will be important if

they're confirmed by clinical studies. CMV infects most adults, without

causing illness, but it can be deadly in people with weak immune systems,

such as AIDS patients. Also, CMV infection in pregnant women is a leading

cause of birth defects, especially hearing impairments.

The effect of inhibition of COX-2 on CMV was first studied several years

ago. A laboratory study showed that when muscle cells infected with CMV were

treated with aspirin, the reproduction rate of the virus was cut in half.

The current study confirmed this result. When Dr. E. Shenk of

Princeton University and colleagues infected skin cells with CMV, they found

that inhibiting COX-2 reduced the virus reproduction rate more than

100-fold. The researchers used three experimental compounds in the study

that specifically inhibit COX-2 alone. They also used another drug that is

known to inhibit both COX-2 and COX-1, another type of enzyme. Traditional

drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen inhibit both enzymes, but a newer class

of drugs, known as COX-2 inhibitors, are more targeted.

But the New Jersey team went further than the other researchers--they showed

why inhibitors of COX-2 have this effect. They already knew that the drugs

block the production of a naturally occurring chemical in the body called

prostaglandin E2. This and other prostaglandins are responsible for the

pain, fever and inflammation that develop in a wide range of disorders.

Shenk and his associates added to this knowledge by showing that

prostaglandin E2 is vital to the reproduction of CMV. They added

prostaglandin E2 to CMV-infected cells in which virus reproduction had been

blocked by an inhibitor of COX-2. Prostaglandin E2 restored virus

reproduction, the researchers report in the Proceedings of the National

Academy of Sciences Early Edition, released online February 26.

There is evidence that prostaglandins play a role in the reproduction of

other viruses, Dr. Mocarski, Jr. of Stanford University suggests in a

journal commentary. An example, he notes, is the herpes simplex virus. One

strain of this virus causes cold sores and another causes genital herpes

infections.

If scientists confirm that prostaglandins are involved in herpes and other

viral infections, drugs that suppress prostaglandins might be " an auxiliary

means of controlling infection, " according to Mocarski.

SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition

2002;10.1073/pnas052713799.

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