A groundbreaking study carried out in Israel and Ethiopia, and released on Thursday, sheds light on how bacteria in the gut can actively boost the immune defenses in people living with early stages of HIV.

The research, led by a husband-wife team, Prof. Eran Elinav of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot and Prof. Hila Elinav, head of the Hadassah AIDS Center in Jerusalem, shows that the microorganisms living in the digestive tract, known as the gut microbiome, make up an active organ in the body’s immune system.

The report, published despite severe setbacks, was published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Microbiology. One of the study’s first authors was forced to flee his home in Ethiopia when civil war broke out while he was conducting research there, and the lead researcher’s lab at Weizmann was destroyed by an Iranian ballistic missile attack on the institute this past June.

The report’s findings pave the way for new medical therapies that target the body’s bacterial ecosystem to bolster immune systems in people living with HIV.

“Our study provides strong evidence in humans that the microbiome and the immune system causally affect one another,” Eran Elinav said. “In fact, the microbiome acts as a kind of an immune organ — it both shapes and responds to immunity.”

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus that attacks and weakens the body’s immune system. Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) occurs at the most advanced stage of infection.

HIV targets white blood cells, which makes the patient more vulnerable to diseases such as tuberculosis, infections, and some cancers.

HIV is transmitted between humans when infected bodily fluids enter another person’s bloodstream, most commonly through unprotected intercourse, the sharing of used syringes, or from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding.

However, with proper treatment, not everyone with HIV will develop AIDS.

According to the Health Ministry’s most recent figures, there are 9,064 people in Israel living with HIV. In Ethiopia, about 600,000........

© The Times of Israel