HPV may hide in the throat

Human papilloma virus (HPV), that causes cervical cancer and some forms of head and neck cancer may hide in small pockets on the surface of tonsils in people not known to carry the virus. The finding, reported by University of Rochester Medical Center researchers in the Journal of the American Medical Association, could be pivotal for the prevention of oropharyngeal cancers that form on the tonsils and tongue.

By mid-adulthood, most people have been exposed to HPV. The same strains that cause cervical cancer (mainly HPV 16 and 18) cause head and neck cancers. While verified tests exist to detect HPV in people before they develop cervical cancer, the same is not true for HPV-related head and neck cancers, which are expected to outnumber cervical cancer.

Only about five percent of HPV-infected people will develop cancer of the mouth or throat, suggesting most people's immune systems can easily hold back HPV infections. Matthew Miller, M.D., associate professor of Otolaryngology and Neurosurgery at URMC believes the answer lies is biofilms - thin, slimy sheets of bacteria. He and his colleagues found HPV encased in biofilms inside pockets on the tonsil surface, called tonsil crypts, which is where HPV-related head and neck cancers often originate.

Researchers studied tissue samples from 102 patients who had elective tonsillectomies. Five of those samples contained HPV and four contained high risk strains, HPV 16 and 18. In every case, HPV was found in tonsil crypts biofilms. They believes HPV is shed from the tonsil during an active infection and gets trapped in the biofilm, where it may be protected from immune attack. In the crypts, the virus likely lays in wait for an opportunity to reinstate infection or invade the tonsil tissue to develop
cancer.

Lack of universal HPV immunization and the potential for the virus to evade the immune system even in individuals with detectable HPV in their blood, our findings could have far-reaching implications for identifying people at risk of developing HPV-related head and neck cancers and ultimately preventing them.
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Komodo dragon blood may become an antibiotics

Harmful microbes are developing resistance to drugs that used to kill them, scientists are looking for powerful antibiotics that can destroy bacteria.

The bacterium Clostridium difficile is responsible for about 250,000 infections and 14,000 death, this makes it a threat to human.

Komodo dragon may be the new source of antibiotics because of its special qualities according to Van Hoek and colleagues.

Reptiles are strong animals, Komodo dragon can eat decayed food without any effect, peptide VK25 in its blood contains antimicrobial properties that can prevent biofilms.

The researchers rearrange two amino acids in its blood-VK25 to make it more effective and discovered new synthetic version of the peptide called DRGN-1

The team tested DRGN-1 on mice wounds that had Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Stephlococcus aureus, the synthetic peptide destroyed the biofilm of the wounds and the two bacterial strains.

This positive result will make it effective in healing wounds and an effective antibiotics for human.

How to disorganize bacteria for better infections treatment

Some bacteria are useful, good bacteria in gut - probiotics like GI Jake in gut aid digestion and fight with invading microbes.

Bacteria are everywhere, antibiotics are used to control bacteria that can cause health issues for humans, but some bacteria have developed resistance to common available antibiotics.

Researchers are looking at new method of treating infections that reduce the use of antibiotics.

Bacteria infect people by working in unity, living together in biofilm and communicate using chemical. This leads to severe bacteria attack on the host.

Scientists are trying to break the unity by shaking the bacteria at the right frequency to confuse them and prevent communication to reduce or prevent them from attacking the host.