What’s your role within the MISTRAL project?
My name is Elisa Rubio, and I am a clinical microbiologist working at Hospital Clinic and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health. I am collaborating on the MISTRAL project, specifically in WP5. This work package focuses on the impact of antiretroviral therapy on the bacterial resistome and the analysis of the resistome from a phenotypic approach across different cohorts of people living with HIV recruited from the other work packages within the MISTRAL project.
What is the primary goal of your research?
People living with HIV under antiretroviral therapy are at higher risk of developing chronic complications and acquiring multiresistant bacteria. Our hypothesis is that the different antiretroviral drugs taken by people living with HIV over their lifetime may have direct antibacterial activity. This activity could impact the gut microbiome composition and its population, which has also been associated with the development of clinical complications. Additionally, antiretroviral drugs could directly select some bacteria in the gut. We are also studying different clinical factors that may contribute to the acquisition of multidrug-resistant bacteria in these populations.
Which are the latest results you have achieved?
We have conducted various in vitro studies and identified that commonly used antiretroviral drugs show antibacterial activity against gut and vaginal commensal microorganisms. The results from this analysis have recently been published in a scientific paper. Additionally, our analysis reveals that the antiretroviral drug elvitegravir has activity against multiresistant bacteria, and we have patented its potential use as a new antibacterial agent. Currently, we are performing resistome analysis from a phenotypic approach on different cohorts of people living with HIV and collecting clinical data to analyze the results and identify factors associated with multidrug-resistant gut colonization.
