Another ‘paradox of obesity’ came out… Suppression of infection by increasing resistance to sexually transmitted diseases

Mechanism of strengthening anti-herpes immune response through interaction of vaginal commensal microbes and gamma delta T cells in case of obesity (=provided by KAIST)

Another study found that obesity suppresses the herpes virus that causes sexually transmitted diseases. The so-called obesity paradox is that obesity, a risk factor for many diseases, is helpful in some conditions.

KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, KAIST), a research team led by Professor Heung-kyu Lee at the Graduate School of Medical Sciences discovered that obesity strengthens resistance to herpes simplex virus type 2 infection through the female genital tract, and identified the mechanism. announced on the 6th.

This research was carried out with the support of the National Research Foundation of Korea’s mid-sized research support project and biomedical technology development project. The study, in which Dr. Park Jang-hyun participated as the first author, was published on the 8th of last month in Cell Reports, an international journal in the field of life science.

Herpes type 2 is a sexually transmitted disease that is mainly spread through the genitals, and women are more likely to be infected than men. It induces blisters (blisters) around the genitals and causes itching and pain. In a weakened immune system, it can cause severe nervous system inflammation.

Obesity is well known as a factor that adversely affects various diseases such as cancer. However, the research team discovered that resistance to the virus arises through the interaction between vaginal commensal microorganisms and immune cells called ‘gamma delta T cells’ when infected with type 2 herpes through the female genital tract.

Symbiotic microorganisms, including lactic acid bacteria, inhabit the female genital tract. Obese women are known to have a different composition of commensal microorganisms in the vagina than thin women, and the research team confirmed that the vagina of obese female mice contained bacteria that appeared to originate from the intestine.

The research team found that bacteria introduced into the vagina of obese female mice, which appeared to have originated from the intestines, were actively producing arginine, a type of amino acid, and confirmed that arginine plays an important role in the initial infection of the virus.

The research team then confirmed that arginine strengthens the antiviral immune response of gamma delta T cells in the vagina and suppresses viral infection and spread faster than when adaptive immune cells are activated.

Professor Lee Heung-gyu said, “This study is meaningful in that it revealed that obesity can be helpful for certain infectious diseases, and will be a reference for the treatment of viral infections in obese patients in the future.” We will accelerate development,” he said.

Meanwhile, studies have consistently reported that obesity or overweight has a positive effect on some diseases. Last month, a domestic study showed that the more obese male gastric cancer patients are, the better the prognosis, including survival rate.

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