Stimulation of natural killer cell activity by murine retroviral infection and cocaine.

The effects of cocaine and murine AIDS on natural killer (NK) cell activity in C57BL/6 mice was studied. Cocaine may play a major role in the development and progression to AIDS in the human population. Chronic intraperitoneal injection of cocaine was shown to cause an increase in NK cell activity over those of saline-treated animals. Infection with LP-BM5 murine leukemia retrovirus was also shown to increase NK cell activity. NK cell activity was increased in retrovirally infected mice treated with cocaine beyond that of mice treated with cocaine alone. This study indicates an important immunomodulatory effect of cocaine on NK cell activity, especially when combined with the effects caused by retroviral infection.