Spread Of HIV In Human Tissues Can Be Reduced By Vesicles Secreted By Certain Bacteria Strains
Source: Thailand Medical News Dec 12, 2019 4 years, 11 months, 2 days, 1 hour, 7 minutes ago
A study of human cells and tissues by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the University of Bologna, Italy has shown that Nano-sized
vesicles released by certain bacteria that inhabit the vagina may protect against
HIV infection.
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Typically known as extracellular
vesicles, these bubble-like particles are produced by many kinds of cells and are thought to transport molecules from one cell to another. The study was led Leonid Margolis, Ph.D., of NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The study findings appears in journal
Nature Communications.
The medical researchers conducted a series of experiments showing that vesicles isolated from four strains of Lactobacillus bacteria interfere with the ability of
HIV to infect cells. In one experiment, researchers added
vesicles to cultures of immune cells known as T lymphocytes and infected the cultures with
HIV.
HIV infection in the treated cells was much lower than in the untreated cells. When the researchers increased the quantity of vesicles, a much smaller proportion of cells were infected.
Additional studies showed that treatment with
vesicles reduced
HIV infection in human lymph and uterine cervix and vaginal tissues. The researchers found that bacterial
vesicles suppressed the binding of viruses to the cell surface, an essential step before the virus can infect a cell.
Detailed experiments showed that bacterial
vesicles directly affect
HIV rather than cells. Exposing the viruses to vesicles reduced the appearance of surface molecules on the virus' outer covering, which it needs to attach to cells.
The researchers told
Thailand Medical News that they are studying how to use these new findings to develop preventive platforms against
HIV infections.
Reference : Ñahui Palomino, RA. Extracellular vesicles from symbiotic vaginal Lactobacilli inhibit HIV-1 infection of human tissues. Nature Communications.2019.
