The effects of prebiotics on microbial dysbiosis, butyrate production and immunity in HIV-infected subjects

SERRANO-VILLAR, S; VÁZQUEZ-CASTELLANOS, J F; VALLEJO, A; LATORRE, A; SAINZ, T; FERRANDO-MARTÍNEZ, S; ROJO, D; MARTÍNEZ-BOTAS, J; DEL ROMERO, J; MADRID, N; LEAL, M; MOSELE, J I; MOTILVA, M J; BARBAS, C; FERRER, M; MOYA, A; MORENO, S; GOSALBES, M J; ESTRADA, V

MUCOSAL IMMUNOLOGY

NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP

Año: 2016 vol. 10 p. 1279 - 1293

1933-0219

Altered interactions between the gut mucosa and bacteria during HIV infection seem to contribute to chronic immunedysfunction. A deeper understanding of how nutritional interventions could ameliorate gut dysbiosis is needed. Fortyfoursubjects, including 12 HIVþ viremic untreated (VU) patients, 23 antiretroviral therapy-treated (ARTþ) virallysuppressed patients (15 immunological responders and 8 non-responders) and 9 HIV controls (HIV), were blindlyrandomized to receive either prebiotics (scGOS/lcFOS/glutamine) or placebo (34/10) over 6 weeks in this pilot study.Weassessed fecal microbiota composition using deep 16S rRNA gene sequencing and several immunological and geneticmarkers involved in HIV immunopathogenesis. The short dietary supplementation attenuated HIV-associated dysbiosis,which was most apparent in VUindividuals but less so in ARTþ subjects, whose gut microbiota was found more resilient.This compositional shift was not observed in the placebo arm. Significantly, declines in indirect markers of bacterialtranslocation and T-cell activation, improvement of thymic output, and changes in butyrate production were observed.Increases in the abundance of Faecalibacterium and Lachnospira strongly correlated with moderate but significantincreases of butyrate production and amelioration of the inflammatory biomarkers soluble CD14 and high-sensitivityC-reactive protein, especially among VU. Hence, the bacterial butyrate synthesis pathway holds promise as a viabletarget for interventions.