9 THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MANGOSTEEN PEELS EXTRACT AGAINST THE TOTAL OF T LYMPHOCYTES IN HIV PATIENTS Maria Dyah Kurniasari, Edi Dharmana, Hussein Gasem Department of Fundamental Nursing, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana, Jalan Kartini No 11 A 50711, Salatiga, Indonesia Email: mariadyah15@gmail.com ABSTRACT Introduction: The Province of West Java is one of the highest HIV sufferers in Indonesia that has increased accumulatively in 2013 to 2014. This condition was proven that in 2014 West Java ranked 4 th among the provinces with the highest HIV sufferers in Indonesia. HIV has main target to infect a cell that contains of receptor, CD4. CD4 examination routinely is very important to decide HIV replication process. Meanwhile, CD4 test in the laboratory is quite expensive and not always available in every health facilities. Mangosteen peels extract contains of xanthones as an antioxidant, which is needed for body as a prooxidant that can inhibit the replication of HIV and the activity was seen from the total number of lymphocyte. Method: The human experimental research has been done by Randomized Control Group Pretest-Post Test Design. There were 20 patients sample for each group. In group 1, HIV patients with ARV therapy were given mangosteen peels extract and in group 2, they were given placebo capsule. Wilcoxon Smith test and Mann-Whitney U test were used to determine the difference between group 1 and group 2. Result: There is no significant difference between lymphocytes (p: 0.102) to HIV patients with ARV in each group examination. Discussion: The ineffectiveness is caused by the phagocytosis and cytoxity of TNF through the increasing of free radicals in HIV patients. Keywords: Mangosteen peels extract, lymphocytes ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Nowadays, one of the major public health problems for the world is an epidemic of Human Immunodeficiency Virus /HIV infection (Swity et al. 2016). In Indonesia, the number of HIV sufferers is increasing every year. West Java got 4 th rank with the highest HIV sufferers among the provinces in Indonesia with the cumulative number of HIV cases: 9340 people, while the number of AIDS patients were reported until 2013 amounted to 4131 people (Spritia Y & KPA Central Java, 2014). Then, an increasing number of HIV/AIDS people were reported till September 2014 are 13.507 and people with HIV: 4.191. This retrovirus changes ribonucleic acid (RNA) into deoxyribonucleate acid (DNA) after enter to the host cell. Viral genetic material inserted to the infected DNA cell. The main target is CD4, the cells that have receptors (Nakatani et al. 2002). Therefore, the ARV therapy and CD4 examination routinely in patients are very important to detect HIV viral replication process. Health services such as BJPS has helped people with HIV to get a free CD4 examination, but not all of them get these services (Swity et al. 2016). The CD4 examination is classified into expensive laboratory tests, especially if the examination is required as a routine examination. Moreover, it is not always available at each health facilities. The previous study by Swity (2016) reported that there was a significant correlation between the total numbers of T cell lymphocytes in patients with HIV in Hasan Sadikin Hospital, Bandung. It shows that the examination f immune cells (T cell lymphocytes) is also important when health facilities are limited (Swity et al. 2016). The reports from previous researchers informed that the elevation of T lymphocytes total count depicts the level of the immune system (Ghate et al. 2011). It has reported that the total number of T lymphocytes associated with the level of human body immunity, but the total number of T lymphocytes in immune relate to HIV patients are still rare. The number of T lymphocytes can replace in monitoring the treatment for HIV patients is not clear enough, but logically the total count of T lymphocytes had a scientific base in HIV patients immune monitor. Mangosteen fruit is one of the diversity floras from Indonesia that has a potential to be a medical plant. The skin of mangosteen fruit contains of xanthones as an antioxidant that is needed in human body as a prooxidant balance (reducing radicals, oxidizing radicals, carbon entered, UV light, metal, etc.) that can inhibit the replication of HIV and the activity T lymphocyte as immune