MADG
10-29-2003, 12:25 PM
Researchers Discover How the Mouth Resists HIV (http://www.gfn.com/news/story.phtml?sid=14647)
October 29, 2003
Gfn.com News
Researchers at Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic have discovered a way cells in the mouth may resist HIV infection.
Reported in the October 28 issue of the international journal AIDS, researchers say the findings hold potential for discovering new ways of preventing AIDS and other infections in the body.
The researchers say because the lining of the mouth is constantly under attack by a barrage of bacteria and other pathogens, it has developed a defensive lining made up of peptides called human beta defensins 2 and 3 (hBD2 and hBD3) that prevent infection.
These combinations of amino acids bind to and disable invading pathogens as well as promote rapid healing from food abrasions or accidental bites to the tongue and mouth.
The research, which was prompted by the fact that so few people contract HIV through unprotected oral sex, suggests that the small peptides produced by cells lining the oral cavity bind to the viral particles directly and can even regulate important receptors the virus uses to infect human cells.
While human beta defensins, particularly hBD1, are found throughout the body's skin and epithelial cells, it was hBD2 and hBD3 in the normal lining of the mouth that responded directly to HIV. In the presence of the virus, the peptides even appear to be expressed in greater numbers on the surface of cells in the mouth. (more)
FYI
October 29, 2003
Gfn.com News
Researchers at Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic have discovered a way cells in the mouth may resist HIV infection.
Reported in the October 28 issue of the international journal AIDS, researchers say the findings hold potential for discovering new ways of preventing AIDS and other infections in the body.
The researchers say because the lining of the mouth is constantly under attack by a barrage of bacteria and other pathogens, it has developed a defensive lining made up of peptides called human beta defensins 2 and 3 (hBD2 and hBD3) that prevent infection.
These combinations of amino acids bind to and disable invading pathogens as well as promote rapid healing from food abrasions or accidental bites to the tongue and mouth.
The research, which was prompted by the fact that so few people contract HIV through unprotected oral sex, suggests that the small peptides produced by cells lining the oral cavity bind to the viral particles directly and can even regulate important receptors the virus uses to infect human cells.
While human beta defensins, particularly hBD1, are found throughout the body's skin and epithelial cells, it was hBD2 and hBD3 in the normal lining of the mouth that responded directly to HIV. In the presence of the virus, the peptides even appear to be expressed in greater numbers on the surface of cells in the mouth. (more)
FYI