Methadone therapy modulate the dendritic cells of heroin addicts

Evidence from various studies suggests that narcotics abuse may exert adverse immunomodulatory effects on immune responses. The aim of this research was to understand the effects of detoxification with methadone on the percentage of dendritic cells (DCs) and expression of its markers in heroin addicts. In this study, myeloid DCs (CD11c⁺) and plasmacytoid DCs (CD123⁺) were examined in two groups. These groups comprised of 20 healthy volunteers and 20 chronic heroin addicts, before and after detoxification with methadone. The percentages of myeloid DCs and plasmacytoid DCs were lower in addict subjects than in the control. The HLA-DR expression on DCs was significantly lower in addict subjects than in the control, whereas CD11c and CD123 expression in DCs subsets were increased in them. Most of these changes were modified after the methadone therapy. Dendritic cells are essential to the initiation of primary immune responses, therefore the disruption of their function can be one of the reasons for the increased prevalence of infections in heroin addicts. The methadone therapy can improve the imposed changes by heroin.