Antiretroviral milk

Scientists have found a protein in breast milk that "locks" cells from AIDS

RIA NewsAmerican scientists have discovered a protein in breast milk that "prevents" the AIDS virus from entering the body of infants, according to an article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Fouda et al., Tenascin-C is an innate broad-spectrum, HIV-1-neutralizing protein in breast milk – VM).

HIV transmission occurs when a virus from any biological fluid of a sick person enters the blood or lymph of a healthy person, for example, through a damaged mucosa. Breast milk also belongs to such liquids. Previously, it was believed that the milk of HIV-infected mothers is dangerous for infants. However, later it became clear that 90% of breastfed children are not infected with HIV. In animal experiments, it was proved that milk itself has the ability to neutralize the virus, preventing it from entering the body, but the mechanism of protective action was not known.

Sally Permar and colleagues from Duke University managed to find a component of milk that has antiviral properties. By dividing the milk into fractions and testing each of them, the Permar group determined that HIV is neutralized by a high-molecular fraction.

Scientists purified the active substance step by step and finally established that it was tenascin-C (TNC), an intercellular matrix protein involved in tissue regeneration and fetal development. Further studies have shown that TNC acts as a guard, connecting with the envelope of the virus and preventing it from entering the cell.

Tenascin-C molecule (Harold Erickson electron micrograph from the Duke Medicine Breast milk protein press release may be key to protecting babies from HIV infection – VM).

The efforts of doctors fighting AIDS in developing countries are focused on preventing the infection of infants from HIV-infected mothers. Currently, antiretroviral drugs are used for this, but they are too expensive, toxic, and, in addition, HIV strains develop resistance to them. TNC may become one of the AIDS prevention drugs.

"The discovery of the antiviral effect of this common component of breast milk allows us to explain why feeding children of HIV-infected mothers are so rarely infected. The combination of TNC with other antiviral factors, perhaps even more effective, such as antibodies, could protect children from infection completely," Barton Haines, director of the Duke Vaccine Institute, makes an optimistic conclusion.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru22.10.2013