Background The role of microbiota in the pathophysiology of benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH), especially in creating an inflammatory milieu may not be avoided. The major objectives of this study were to investigate the microbial composition of BPH tissues, its association with inflammation and check the effect of clinically isolated bacteria on prostate epithelial cells. Methods The study includes 36 patients with a pathological diagnosis of BPH. Following strict aseptic measures, tissues were collected after transurethral resection of prostate, multiple pieces of the resected tissues were subjected to histopathological analysis, bacterial culture and genomic DNA extraction. Microbial composition was analyzed by culture and/or next‐generation sequencing methods. Annotation of operational taxonomy unit has been done with an in‐house algorithm. The extent of inflammation was scored through histological evaluation of tissue sections. The effect of clinical isolates on nuclear factor‐κB (NF‐κB) activity and induction of DNA‐damage in the prostate epithelial cells were evaluated. Results Histopathological analysis of the BPH tissues showed the presence of inflammation in almost all the tissues with a varied level at different regions of the same tissue section and the level of overall inflammation was different from patients to patients. Microbial culture of tissue samples showed the presence of live bacteria in 55.5% (20 out of 36) of the patient tissues. Majority of the isolates were coagulase‐positive Staphylococcus, E. coli and Micrococcus spp. Further, V3 16S rRNA sequencing of the DNA isolated from BPH tissues showed the presence of multiple bacteria and the most common phylum in the BPH tissues were found to be Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes. The E. coli, isolated from one of the tissue was able to activate NF‐κB and induce DNA damage in prostate epithelial cells. Phospho‐histone γH2A.X staining confirmed the presence of cells with damaged DNA lesion in BPH tissues and also correlated with the severity of inflammation. Conclusion Our study has shown that the BPH tissues do have a divergent microbial composition including the commonly found E. coli (phylum Proteobacteria), and these bacteria might contribute to the BPH‐associated inflammation and/or tissue damage. The BPH‐associated E. coli induced NF‐κB signaling and DNA damage in prostate epithelial cells in vitro.

With the alarming rise of infected cases and deaths, COVID-19 is a pandemic, affecting 220 countries worldwide. Until now, no specific treatment is available against SARS-CoV-2. The causal virus SARS-CoV-2 primarily infects lung cells, leading to respiratory illness ranging in severity from the common cold to deadly pneumonia. This, with comorbidities, worsens the clinical outcome, particularly for immunosuppressed individuals with COVID-19. Interestingly, the commensal gut microbiota has been shown to improve lung infections by modulating the immune system. Therefore, fine-tuning of the gut microbiome with probiotics could be an alternative strategy for boosting immunity and treating COVID-19. Here, we present a systematic biological network and meta-analysis to provide a rationale for the implementation of probiotics in preventing and/or treating COVID-19. We have identified 90 training genes from the literature analysis (according to PRISMA guidelines) and generated an association network concerning the candidate genes linked with COVID-19 and probiotic treatment. The functional modules and pathway enrichment analysis of the association network clearly show that the application of probiotics could have therapeutic effects on ACE2-mediated virus entry, activation of the systemic immune response, nlrp3 -mediated immunomodulatory pathways, immune cell migration resulting in lung tissue damage and cardiovascular difficulties, and altered glucose/lipid metabolic pathways in the disease prognosis. We also demonstrate the potential mechanistic domains as molecular targets for probiotic applications to combat the viral infection. Our study, therefore, offers probiotics-mediated novel preventive and therapeutic strategies for COVID-19 warfare.

Gut microbiota play important role in maintaining health. Probiotics are believed to augment it further. We aimed at comparing effects of probiotics, Lactobacillus acidophilus (LA) and Bacillus clausii (BC) (a) on the gut microbiota abundance and diversity and (b) their contributions to control intestinal dysbiosis and inflammation in Th1- and Th2-biased mice following Salmonella infection. We report how could gut microbiota and the differential immune bias (Th1 or Th2) of the host regulate host responses when challenged with Salmonella typhimurium in the presence and absence of either of the probiotics. LA was found to be effective in ameliorating the microbial dysbiosis and inflammation caused by Salmonella infection, in Th1 (C57BL/6) and Th2 (BALB/c)-biased mouse. BC was able to ameliorate Salmonella-induced dysbiosis and inflammation in Th2 but not in Th1-biased mouse. These results may support probiotics LA as a treatment option in the case of Salmonella infection.

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Peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) are getting prodigious interest currently in the biomedical and diagnostic field as an extremely powerful tool because of their potentiality to hybridize with natural nucleic acids. Although PNA has strong affinity and sequence specificity to DNA/RNA, there is a considerable ongoing effort to further enhance their special chemical and biological properties for potential application in numerous fields, notably in the field of therapeutics. The toolbox for backbone modified PNAs synthesis has been extended substantially in recent decades, providing a more efficient synthesis of peptides with numerous scaffolds and modifications. This paper reviews the various strategies that have been developed so far for the modification of the PNA backbone, challenging the search for new PNA systems with improved chemical and physical properties lacking in the original aegPNA backbone. The various practical issues and limitations of different PNA systems are also summarized. The focus of this review is on the evolution of PNA by its backbone modification to improve the cellular uptake, sequence specificity, and compatibility of PNA to bind to DNA/RNA. Finally, an insight was also gained into major applications of backbone modified PNAs for the development of biosensors.