A study reveals that indole-3-propionic acid (IPA), a gut-derived molecule, can potentially treat influenza by lowering viral activity and inflammation in mice, with human trials anticipated to confirm these results.
Researchers at the State University of Campinas in Brazil and the Pasteur Institute in Lille, France, conducted experiments on mice and discovered that administering a specific substance reduced both viral load and inflammation in animals infected with the influenza “Investigation of the molecular mechanisms involved in the interaction between microbiota-derived metabolites and host cells during inflammation”, which is supported by FAPESP and for which Vinolo is the principal investigator.
The above results followed a series of experiments with mice conducted in France and led by Pasteur-Lille’s François Trottein. The data was later analyzed at UNICAMP using bioinformatics tools, and the results of this analysis in turn inspired further experiments with animals at Pasteur.
“We used three layers of data. The first was obtained by metagenomics, showing which bacteria were altered in the gut microbiota after seven days and 14 days of infection. All the DOI: 10.1080/19490976.2024.2325067
FAPESP also supported the study by awarding a PhD scholarship to co-author Patrícia Brito Rodrigues, and funding her research internship at Pasteur-Lille.