Dr. Samuel Lai and his team at the University of North Carolina’s Eshelman School of Pharmacy in Chapel Hill have been researching the properties of cervicovaginal mucus (CVM) and how it can prevent STI transmission. CVM helps protect the cervix and the vaginal walls from trauma and abrasions that can cause susceptibilites to different viruses like HIV and other STIs by providing lubrication and trapping contaminants. Live epithelial cells are less exposed than the dead epithelial cells within the cervix which makes them less susceptible to viruses. The mucus not only protects these cells from the outside but also from the innate defense molecules within it. HIV, however, can infect the mucus and even one HIV cell can lead to serious infection. Some women have different types of CVM that makes them more resistent to HIV infection. Researchers are studying how this first line of defense against HIV can be reinforced and improved to decrease the rate of infection by inducing local antibody secretion. This reinforcement of the mucus barrier has been shown to be effective in decreasing herpesvirus transmission. The research team has been developing a vaginal ring that can secrete the local antibodies in order to reinforce the mucus barrier and protect against other STIs and potentially HIV infection. The implications of this research reaches beyond just STIs as well, as the research team states that the reinforcement of the mucus barrier can be applied to airway mucosa which means that it could potentially be protective against influenza!
-Meley
https://www.infectiousdiseaseadvisor.com/hivaids-advisor/harnessing-mucus-to-fight-hiv/article/750408/
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