JERUSALEM, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- A new study has discovered that gut bacteria can help support the immune system in people living with HIV, opening new paths for protecting against infections and improving the quality of life for people living with HIV.
Published on Monday in Nature Microbiology, the study revealed that HIV attacks CD4 T cells, a type of immune cell, leaving the body vulnerable to infections. Much of the damage happens in the gut, which also harbors the virus even when antiviral treatment suppresses it in the blood.
The research team, led by Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science, looked at the gut microbes of people with HIV in Israel and Ethiopia, comparing them to healthy volunteers.
The researchers found that changes in the immune system caused by HIV also alter the mix of gut bacteria. They then transferred these microbes into mice to study their effect on immunity.
Through analysis, they found that gut bacteria from people in the early stages of HIV actually boosted the mice's CD4 T cells and helped fight infections, while microbes from advanced HIV patients did not.
The discovery could lead to new ways to strengthen immunity in people with HIV by modifying the gut microbiome through diet, probiotics, or targeted therapies, especially where advanced antiviral drugs are limited, according to the researchers. ■
