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"A spoonful of bacteria could help fend
off HIV"
The
Star (www.thestar.com.my)
(14/01/07)
LACTOBACILLUS, a harmless bacterium that helps turn milk into yoghurt, has
been engineered to make HIVfighting
microbicides. Eating yoghurt containing these bacteria could provide a way
for women to fend off HIV if no other means are available. As well as
appearing in yoghurt, lactobacillus naturally inhabits the human vagina.
Once there, the bioengineered bacteria would churn out compounds that
inhibit transmission of HIV, thus helping prevent infection.
Researchers have in the past tried to insert genes for the microbicide
cyanovirin-N into a separate ring of DNA. However, this could easily slip
out of one bacterium and into another, posing a possible environmental or
health risk. Now Peter Lee at Stanford University in California and his
colleagues have inserted the cyanovirin-N gene into the bacterium's main
chromosome, where it is much more stable. In tests in mice, the integrated
gene produced the microbicide at concentrations sufficient to inhibit HIV
replication.
"It's a milestone," says Jim Turpin, senior programme manager for
microbicides at the US National Institutes of Health. The advantage of this
approach over microbicidal gels is that the bacteria last several days
longer. - New Scientist Magazine/Premium Health News Services/TMSI
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