L-arginine: a therapeutic option for AIDS/HIV infection?

Numerous studies implicate cellular immunological effector systems in the partial containment of virus replication during the early stages of HIV infection. Immunostimulatory therapeutic regimes designed to enhance virus clearance are therefore theoretically attractive, but are accompanied by the risk of concomitant activation of HIV replication. Supra-normal levels of L-arginine have been shown to induce broad immune stimulation in vitro and in vivo, but do not increase HIV gene expression in vitro. These observations, together with the lack of toxicity of this agent, suggest a novel therapeutic approach to HIV disease.