High Frequency of Grossly Deleted nef Genes in HIV-1 Infected Long-Term Slow Progressors Treated with Korean Red Ginseng

To investigate the association between Korean red ginseng (KRG) intake in HIV-1 infected patients and the occurrence of grossly deleted nef genes (gΔnef), we characterized nef genes in 10 long-term slow progressors (LTSP) infected with HIV-1 subtype B and 34 control patients. LTSP was defined by the annual decrease in CD4 T cells being less than 20/μl over 10 years in the absence of antiretroviral therapy. They were treated with KRG for a prolonged period. Nef genes were amplified from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) using nested PCR and the products were sequenced directly. It was observed that the patients CD4 T cell counts decreased from 444 ± 207/μl to 294 ± 177/μl over 136 ± 23 months of KRG intake. This corresponds to an annual decrease in the level of CD4 T cells of 13.3/μl. A total of 479 nef genes were amplified from 137 PBMC samples. Nine out of the 10 patients, 47 (34.3 %) out of the 137 samples, and 90 out of the 479 genes revealed gΔnef. The deletion extended outside the nef gene in 25 gΔnef obtained from 6 patients. The proportion of samples with gΔnef (34.3 %) was significantly higher than 4.8 % in control patients (P < 0.001). In addition, it significantly increased as the duration of KRG intake prolongs (P < 0.01). These data suggest that the occurrence of g nef might be associated with long-term intake of KRG.