While viruses are typically viewed as harmful to health, a subset of viruses residing in the gut might play a crucial role in stress regulation. According to a new study, this discovery contributes to the growing body of evidence indicating that interactions between the gut and the brain influence human behaviour. This research potentially paves the way for treatments targeting viruses within our bodies for stress-related conditions.
While previous studies have primarily focused on the changes in gut bacteria composition in response to stress, this new research sheds light on the “virome,” an area that has been largely unexplored in understanding its interaction with bacteria and its impact on stress-related health and diseases.
Dr Nathaniel Ritz from the APC Microbiome Ireland research centre at University College Cork emphasised the potential of targeting the virome to alleviate the effects of stress.
The study, led by Ritz and his colleagues, specifically focused on a subset of viruses known as bacteriophages, which infect and replicate alongside bacteria.
Chronic social stress exposure in mice resulted in alterations in the composition of both the viruses and bacteria in their guts. Subsequent experiments involved harvesting viruses from the faeces of unstressed, healthy animals and transplanting them into mice subjected to chronic social stress.
The findings, published in Nature Microbiology, suggested that these transplants reduced stress hormone levels and mitigated depression- and anxiety-like behaviours in the mice.
While further research is required to determine the potential benefits of virus transplants for humans with stress-related conditions, this study provides early evidence that gut viruses are involved in stress response, and manipulating them could hold therapeutic promise.