Cisplatin stimulates the expression from the human immunodeficiency virus long terminal repeat sequences in human fibroblasts.

A recombinant plasmid carrying the long terminal repeat (LTR) of the human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) linked to the reporter chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) gene was stably introduced into human fibroblasts. The transfectant cells expressed CAT activity from the HIV LTR. The response to anti-neoplastic drugs, i.e. cisplatin, a platin derivative, and hexadecylphosphocholine, was studied. It was found that at 5 x 10(-6) M concentrations cisplatin stimulates by 2.2-fold the expression of CAT from the HIV LTR. Our results extend our observations on the effect of cisplatin on HIV LTR in rodent fibroblast cells and suggest caution against therapy including cisplatin in the treatment of AIDS patients.