Tomato concentrate helps reduce HIV-related chronic intestinal inflammation

The findings provide clues to how changing the gut affects pathogenic inflammation in people chronically infected with HIV, suggesting that targeting the inflamed gut lining may be a novel approach to preventing systemic inflammation, even when antiviral therapy is effective in controlling a person's HIV

The research was published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS Pathogens

"Inflammation is an important process that protects the body from invading infections and toxins," said the paper's lead author Sai Se, an associate professor of medicine in the Department of Infectious Diseases at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine.

People with HIV have been found to suffer from a condition called "leaky gut," in which products from gut bacteria, such as lipopolysaccharides, move through the bloodstream to other parts of the body

The researchers experimented with HIV-infected mice whose immune systems were engineered to mimic those of humans

Tg6F comes from a specific type of genetically modified tomato; it contains anti-inflammatory and antioxidant peptides, called apoA-I peptides, that mimic the main protein of HDL, the so-called "good cholesterol

The researchers examined proteins called cytokines and chemokines, which are thought to predict inflammation in the gut and blood, which can predict adverse outcomes in people with chronic HIV infection

They found that mice fed Tg6F had lower levels of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines in the gut and blood than mice fed a standard diet

"Targeting the inflamed gut with peptides that resemble the major proteins in HDL may be a way to prevent systemic inflammation in people with chronic HIV infection," Kelesidis said

In the paper, the authors show that mice cannot fully reproduce all aspects of human HIV infection

Co-authors of the study include UCLA's Maria Daskou, Dr.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the UCLA Center for AIDS Research, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the California HIV/AIDS Research Program, and the Campbell Foundation

Journal Reference :

1. Maria Daskou, William Mu, Madhav Sharma, Hariclea Vasilopoulos, Rachel Heymans, Eleni Ritou, Valerie Rezek, Philip Hamid, Athanasios Kossyvakis, Shubhendu Sen Roy, Victor Grijalva, Arnab Chattopadhyay, Scott G.