Than breast milk and the AIDS virus are not very friendly It is something that has been known for a long time, especially in poor countries where many women infected with the virus have children born without it and that, despite being breastfed, most of them are still not infected (I say the majority because when they start to eat other things and to alter the intestinal mucosa by new foods, then yes breast milk can infect the baby).
The fact is that scientists are still investigating this hate relationship between the virus and mothers' milk and have recently discovered that a breast milk protein is able to prevent the transmission of the AIDS virus.
To date, the transmission rates of the mother-to-baby virus have been greatly reduced through antiretroviral treatments. The problem is that in poor countries not all women infected with the virus have access to medication and in such cases any solution is welcome. In addition, massive treatment with these drugs may end up being less efficient when new strains of the virus resistant to these drugs appear, so we must continue investigating alternatives.
As I mentioned above, while breastfeeding is exclusive, the risk of infection is minimal. The moment the baby starts eating other things, the risk of infection increases. The theory says that when mothers do not take antiretrovirals, most children should become infected, but the reality is very different since it has been observed that Of the children who continue to breastfeed at two years, only 10% become infected.
This made the researchers think that some component of breast milk (or several) were able to control or stop the infection, preventing it from occurring, and so they found Tenascin-C (TNC). TNC is an important protein in the development of the baby and very useful in wound healing that also has antimicrobial properties that no one had described so far.
One of the effects of TNC is that of coupling to CD4 receptors which, interestingly, are preferred by HIV. That is to say, the TNC protein is located where the AIDS virus intends to mate to infect cells. Unable to position itself, it cannot infect them, and unable to do so cannot cause infection. A cell infected by the virus has a very short life, between hours and a few days, so if it cannot infect, if it is so difficult to find cells in which to replicate, the virus can end up disappearing from the body.
As the researchers explain, this could explain why most babies exposed to HIV do not get the virus. In addition, they suspect that the same protein may be a precursor to other virus inhibition factors, such as antibodies, that would further help protect the baby from infection.
Now, obviously, we must investigate how to apply these discoveries to the field of health, in case it is possible to promote the prevention or cure of the virus with said protein. Hopefully so.
