Strannegtlrd, Orjan(Professor)Forsgren, Marianne (PhD)Wondimu, Zenebech2018-07-182023-11-082018-07-182023-11-081993-09http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/9182Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the aeti%gic agent of Acquired Inullllllodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is known to manifest high degree of genetic variability. Based on the genomic structure two types of HIV, HIV-l and HIV-2 are known to date. The presence of a distinct strain of HIV-l in Ethiopia has been reported. Differences in the pattern of viraemia and immunologic reactions from the one documented in European and North American patients has been observed in Ethiopians infected with this virus. Treatment with azidothymidine (AIT) has been shown to result in decreased serum levels of P2-microglobulin (PrM), tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a) and neopterin in the European and North American HIV-l patients. Whether there are differences in sensitivity to antiviral compounds, such as AZf, dideoxyinosine (ddl) or interferon alpha (IFN-(J.) in Ethiopian HIV-l strains and the effect of treatment on the immunological reactions were not known. The in vitro sensitivity of 8 Ethiopian strains to antiviral compounds was investigated in parallel with 8 Swedish strains all from untreated AIDS patients. The antiviral effects were measured by p24 antigen capture EUSA and Reverse transcriptase activity assay. A pilot controlled study of 200mg and 600mg oral AZT was conducted in 53 HIV-l infected Ethiopians. The treatment effects were evaluated by assessment of the clinical status of the patients and the measurement of serum levels of PrM, TNF-(J. and neopterin. No statistically significant difference in drug sensitivity was found between the Ethiopian and The Swedish strains to All, ddl and IEN-(J. in vitro. In the majority of the treated patients improvement in their clinical conditions was reported and a gain in body weight was observed. A statistically significant decrease in the levels of PrM, TNF-(J. and neopterin were found in the treated patients in contrast to the control patients.enBiologyThesis