Researchers on the State College of Campinas in Brazil and the Pasteur Institute in Lille, France, carried out experiments on mice and found that administering a selected substance diminished each viral load and irritation in animals contaminated with the influenza virus.
In accordance with a research revealed within the journal Intestine Microbes, researchers from the State College of Campinas (UNICAMP) in São Paulo, Brazil, and Pasteur Institut in Lille, France, have discovered {that a} naturally occurring intestine molecule can forestall and even deal with influenza.
Experiments with mice confirmed a fall in ranges of the molecule indole-3-propionic acid (IPA) throughout an infection by influenza virus H3N2.
The contaminated animals’ IPA was supplemented with an artificial model of the molecule, after which viral load and lung irritation had been discovered to have decreased.
“These outcomes are promising and recommend that IPA might in future be used to assist forestall or deal with infections by the influenza virus, which causes main epidemics. Nonetheless, extra analysis is required to verify the findings in people and to know how IPA works,” mentioned Marco Vinolo, co-last writer of the article and a professor at UNICAMP’s Institute of Biology (IB).
The research was a part of the challenge “Investigation of the molecular mechanisms concerned within the interplay between microbiota-derived metabolites and host cells throughout irritation”, which is supported by FAPESP and for which Vinolo is the principal investigator.
The above outcomes adopted a sequence of experiments with mice carried out in France and led by Pasteur-Lille’s François Trottein. The info was later analyzed at UNICAMP utilizing bioinformatics instruments, and the outcomes of this evaluation in flip impressed additional experiments with animals at Pasteur.
“We used three layers of knowledge. The primary was obtained by metagenomics, exhibiting which micro organism had been altered within the intestine microbiota after seven days and 14 days of an infection. All of the DNA of those micro organism was analyzed, whereas the sort of research usually analyzes solely a bit of 1 gene that identifies the micro organism. Our evaluation confirmed not solely the species of micro organism but additionally the genes most modern and their respective features,” mentioned Vinicius de Rezende Rodovalho, second writer of the article. The research was carried out whereas he was a postdoctoral researcher at IB-UNICAMP.
The opposite layers of knowledge had been obtained by metabolomics, detecting metabolites secreted by the intestine microbiota and scientific markers of the illness resembling viral load and irritation.
“We analyzed these datasets in an built-in method, constructing a community of correlations that pointed to an essential function for IPA. In additional experiments carried out on this foundation, we supplemented the animals with an artificial model of the molecule produced within the laboratory and noticed that IPA supplementation diminished viral load and irritation. The findings recommend that IPA has important potential as a biomarker of influenza resistance and a goal for microbiome-based interventions to deal with flu,” Vinolo mentioned.
Complement
IPA is produced by intestine micro organism after they metabolize tryptophan, a necessary amino acid current in entire grains resembling soybeans, wheat, corn, barley, rye, oats, and sunflower seeds, in addition to animal merchandise resembling fish, beef, pork, poultry, and dairy.
Analysis by different teams has already proven that IPA supplementation improves metabolic issues, regulating blood sugar, growing insulin sensitivity, and inhibiting lipid synthesis and inflammatory elements within the liver.
Different research have discovered proof of the function performed by tryptophan and IPA in power stability and the cardiovascular system, in addition to their potential use to assist forestall irritation, weight problems, diabetes, most cancers, hypertension, neurodegenerative illnesses, and osteoporosis.
In gentle of its potential to stop and fight flu, the researchers have filed with the European Union for a patent on this use of IPA supplementation. Additional research resulting in scientific trials are deliberate.
“We’re wanting on the function of IPA throughout an infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and the outcomes have thus far been related. We additionally need to learn how it features throughout bacterial infections. Few research have been completed on the hyperlink between intestine microbiota and systemic resistance to antibiotics, and IPA’s involvement on this connection is also a fruitful line of analysis,” Rodovalho mentioned.
Reference: “Shotgun metagenomics and systemic focused metabolomics spotlight indole-3-propionic acid as a protecting intestine microbial metabolite in opposition to influenza an infection” by Séverine Heumel, Vinícius de Rezende Rodovalho, Charlotte Urien, Florian Specque, Patrícia Brito Rodrigues, Cyril Robil, Lou Delval, Valentin Sencio, Amandine Descat, Lucie Deruyter, Stéphanie Ferreira, Marina Gomes Machado, Adeline Barthelemy, Fabiola Silva Angulo, Joel. T Haas, Jean François Goosens, Isabelle Wolowczuk, Corinne Grangette, Yves Rouillé, Ghjuvan Grimaud, Marie Lenski, Benjamin Hennart, Marco Aurélio Ramirez Vinolo and François Trottein, 6 March 2024, Intestine Microbes.
DOI: 10.1080/19490976.2024.2325067
FAPESP additionally supported the research by awarding a PhD scholarship to co-author Patrícia Brito Rodrigues, and funding her analysis internship at Pasteur-Lille.