Re: ACE is the place for the youthful hardware, man? Re: ACE Inhibition Is Partial "Fountain Of Youth"

From: Hua Kul (gmp_at_adres.nl)
Date: 12/17/04 

Date: 17 Dec 2004 07:34:08 -0800

Dr. Moskowitz has been quite open to direct email exchanges if you want
to correspond. His treatment aims at reducing tissue levels of ACE, or
blocking ACE receptors, or a combination. He has had very good success
in helping patients recover from West Nile virus.

He currently has an application on the Genomed web site to take part in
his study for use of ACE inhibitors against influenza. You can print
it out and take it to your doctor for "admission" to the trial. It
might be more beneficial than a flu vaccine.

Here's a brief interview with him:
http://www.chronicfatiguesupport.com/library/showarticle.cfm/ID/5007/e/1/T/CFIDS_FM/

==================================================================

I began studying the angiotensin I-converting enzyme or "ACE" gene ten
years ago, while still in academia. My lab found that over-activity of
ACE was responsible for kidney failure due to diabetes and high blood
pressure. What was surprising was that another 150 or so diseases
seemed to be caused by too much ACE activity.

Our approach is to attack diseases at their source, so as to achieve
regression ("cure"). It just so happens that ACE appears to be at the
source of virtually all common diseases except prostate cancer. In
particular, all autoimmune diseases, such as Lupus, Rheumatoid
Arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis, and even allergies to penicillin and
sulfa drugs, start with overactivity of ACE. The logical treatment to
try, then, especially for diseases with no good treatment yet, is an
ACE inhibitor or an angiotensin II blocker (ACE makes angiotensin II).

..............................

But the symptoms of CFS and FM most resemble the flu, and suggest the
work of the monocyte/macrophage, a key player in the host's innate
immune response. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (tnf-alpha, or cachectin)
is just one of many hormones released by activated macrophages. In
fact, most of the symptoms of the flu (muscle aches or "myalgias,"
weakness, fatigue) are due to release of hormones from macrophages.

Since activated macrophages express ACE on their surface membrane, ACE
has something to do with their activated state. The product of ACE,
angiotensin II, is probably an activating hormone, or "cytokine," for
macrophages. Blocking the macrophage with an ACE inhibitor or
angiotensin II receptor blocker ("arb") is a very gentle, benign way of
trying to tone down the inflammation. We have seen it work for several
diseases already characterized by overly exuberant inflammation or even
outright autoimmune disease.
==================================================================
--Hua Kul