Intestinal dysbiosis hypothesis goes mainstream

It seems that the idea of recommending probiotics for “HIV+” people has become downright mainstream now. The following links were sent me by Tony Lance; they mention among other things dysbiosis and microbial translocation, which Tony had pointed to in his essay, cited on this blog nearly a decade ago (What really caused aids: slicing through the Gordian Knot).

“Impact of probiotic Saccharomyces boulardii on the gut microbiome composition in HIV-treated patients: A double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial” by Judit Villar-García et al.

“Microbes & HIV” by Jeannie Wraight

“STUDY: Probiotic could help prevent disorders in people with HIV” by Jeannie Wraight.
This mentions “A new study reported in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences”, presumably “Probiotics differently affect gut-associated lymphoid tissue indolamine-2,3-dioxygenase mRNA and cerebrospinal fluid neopterin levels in antiretroviral-treated HIV-1 infected patients: A pilot study” by Carolina Scagnolari et al. [Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2016, 17(10), 1639; doi:10.3390/ijms17101639] .
This article was in a special issue of IJMS, “Immuno- and Neuropathogenesis of HIV Disease: Mechanisms, Prevention, Treatment, and Cure” which included another pertinent piece:

“Impact of HIV infection and anti-retroviral therapy on the Immune profile of and microbial translocation in HIV-infected children in Vietnam” by Xiuqiong Bi et al. [Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2016, 17(8), 1245; doi:10.3390/ijms17081245] .

Neither of those sources mentions the probiotic Visbiome, referred to in Wraight’s article. However, the Visbiome website  cites “Probiotic supplementation promotes a reduction in T-cell activation, an increase in Th17 frequencies, and a recovery of intestinal epithelium integrity and mitochondrial morphology in ART-treated HIV-1-positive patients” by Gabriella d’Ettorre et al. [Immunity, Inflammation and Disease, 2017; doi: 10.1002/iid3.160]  whose Conclusions are worth quoting:
“These findings highlight the potential beneficial effects of probiotic supplementation for the reconstitution of physical and immunological integrity of the mucosal intestinal barrier in ART-treated HIV-1-positive patients”.

 

HIV and Intestinal Dysbiosis: Probiotics are good for HIV+ people

I thank Marco Ruggiero for alerting us to these important articles, which report that probiotics can increase CD4 counts and improve health in general:

Irvine et al. (including Gregor Reid), “Probiotic Yogurt Consumption is Associated With
an Increase of CD4 Count Among People Living With HIV/AIDS”, Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, 44 (2010) e201–e205 (ProbioticCD4increase)

Gregor Reid, “The potential role for probiotic yogurt for people living with HIV/AIDS”, Gut Microbes, 1 (2010) 411-414 (ProbioticReidGutMicrobes)

Ruben Hummelen et al. (including Gregor Reid), “Effect of 25 weeks probiotic supplementation on immune function of HIV patients”, Gut Microbes 2: (2011) 80-85 (25weeks-probiotics)

Ruggiero sues anonymous vigilante group

For a detailed account of what is happening at the University of Florence and Professor Ruggiero’s legal suit against anonymous smears, listen to the podcast of Ruggiero’s interview with Celia Farber and David Rasnick (alternative link here). Ruggiero gives an informative summary also of what led to his work on probiotics.