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Bacteria parasitizing plants may help develop an HIV vaccine
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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A discovery by two scientists from Simon Fraser University suggests that little-known bacteria could become an important new tool in developing a vaccine against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Pantoflet and senior researcher in the lab, Kate Ayu-Yeng, worked with Italian scientists to study the bacterium Rhizobium radiobacter. This microorganism causes root tumors in plants and is safe for humans.
It turned out that on the surface of this bacterium there are lipooligosaccharide molecules, which in their structure completely coincide with the structure of the molecules on the envelope of the immunodeficiency virus. It covers the envelope glycoprotein gp120, protecting the virus from antibodies produced by cells of the immune system.
This similarity allows scientists to develop preventive vaccines against HIV.
The immunodeficiency virus uses sugar molecules as a disguise while the virus is reproducing. Once the immune system detects it, HIV has time to create several subtypes, deceiving the body.
According to the author of the study, bacterial lipooligosaccharide can be used to create an effective vaccine against HIV infection. To do this, it is necessary to combine the molecule with a protein that, after being introduced into the body, will stimulate the production of specific antibodies. Such antibodies will be able to recognize and attack the immunodeficiency virus upon infection.
This type of bacteria stimulates tumor growth on the roots of legumes. In order to create a vaccine against HIV, scientists need to find proteins that the lipo-oligosaccharide molecule will interact with. It is the protein that directs the immune system to molecules located on the surface of various cells. Such antibodies will recognize HIV molecules because they resemble the surface molecules of Rhizobium radiobacter.
The authors of the work note that this technology was previously used to develop drugs for vaccination against meningitis and bacterial pneumonia. According to the scientists, if they manage to receive a grant for further research, experimental samples of the HIV vaccine will be created within two years.
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