“Probiotic supplementation improved the physical and immunological integrity of the intestinal mucosal barrier in HIV-1-positive patients being treated with antiretroviral therapy, according to new research.
The researchers sought to evaluate the effects of a high potency multistrain probiotic — marketed in the U.S. as Visbiome (ExeGi Pharma) and Vivomixx in Europe — on intestinal immunity in HIV-1 patients on antiretroviral therapy. They performed a sub-study of a pilot longitudinal, non-randomized, single arm trial of 10 patients who received the supplement twice daily for 6 months between May 2014 and February 2015. All patients were white men with a median age of 42 years, and were all on antiretroviral therapy for a median of 6 years.
The investigators concluded that these findings demonstrate the potential benefits of probiotic supplementation for restoring mucosal intestinal barrier integrity in HIV-1 patients treated with antiretroviral therapy, but emphasized that the results should not be generalized to all probiotics, as “it is the probiotic strain itself which determines the efficacy of the product and hence the associated findings.” This is especially important in immunocompromised patients, they added.”