February 2004 Cover
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Researchers at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic have discovered a way the mouth may prevent contracting HIV. Since the lining of the mouth is constantly under attack by a barrage of bacteria that live and grow there, the mouth lining has an innate
defense line of peptides-- known as human beta-defensins 2 and 3 (hBD2 and hBD3)-- that may prevent humans from getting sick and may promote quick healing from food abrasions or accidental bites to the tongue and mouth.
Weinberg, a dentist and microbiologist at CSD, became curious because he knew HIV is rarely contracted through the mouth. He noted that hBD2 increased by almost 80-fold in the presence of HIV introduced to a monolayer of human oral epithelial cells in the lab,
and maintained their response rate for 72 hours-- long after the virus could be expected to live in the mouth.
Editor's Note: from Health & Medicine Week
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