New research reveals how gut bacteria and lipid metabolism may affect AD, other brain diseases

Jul 26 2018

BIOCRATES’ Technology Enables Research of Host Microbiome Interactions to Investigate Neurodegenerative Diseases

BIOCRATES Life Sciences AG, a global leader in targeted metabolomics, reported today the Alzheimer’s Disease Metabolomics Consortium’s (ADMC) new breakthrough in Alzheimer’s research, which connects the Gut-Liver-Brain axis in the development and progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). During the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC), Chicago, USA, researchers reported new data on how gut bacteria and lipid metabolism may influence AD.

Alzheimer’s disease is a devastating and progressive neurological disorder that affects more than 60 million people worldwide. Despite major effort by researchers, the pathophysiology of this disease is not yet fully understood. However, this week in Chicago at the AAIC, scientists showed that changes in intestinal bacterial populations or activity is associated with cognitive and brain imaging changes and atrophy in Alzheimer’s disease and that this might apply to other neuropsychiatric diseases.

Utilizing technology developed by BIOCRATES, which enables readouts of the host microbiome interaction, scientists shared their breakthrough findings that liver gut metabolic defects are correlated with cognitive decline in AD. Furthermore, these findings show that liver gut metabolic defects have an influence on the pathological features of AD, including neuroinflammation and amyloid-beta deposition.

The Alzheimer Disease Metabolomics Consortium (ADMC) led by Prof. Rima Kaddurah-Daouk based at Duke University Medical Center is an international consortium of renowned academic institutes that includes BIOCRATES. The ADMC was formed as part of the NIA Accelerated Medicine Partnership in Alzheimer Disease (AMP-AD) to investigate pathogenic mechanisms in AD. The consortium is mapping metabolic failures across trajectory of Alzheimer’s disease and the contribution of human metabolism and the intestinal microbiota. Research carried out by Prof. Kaddurah-Daouk of the Duke Medical Center, indicate that the microbiome in our gut seems to play a major role in AD pathogenesis.

“BIOCRATES is excited to be a part of this important study. These findings underscore the importance of metabolism in the pathogenesis of many diseases. Results like these are only possible in large-scale collaborative research approaches, which our technology is perfectly suited to support,” commented Dr. Wulf Fischer-Knuppertz, CEO of BIOCRATES. “BIOCRATES continues to develop technologies for the better and deeper understanding of the host microbiome and its implications in the pathophysiology and progression of diseases such as Alzheimer’s.”

In two separate AD studies with over 1,500 individuals, Prof. Rima Kaddurah-Daouk’s team showed that Alzheimer’s patients had lower levels of liver produced primary bile acids (BA) in their blood, while secondary bile acids, which are bacterially produced and known to be cytotoxic, have been found at higher concentrations. Prof. Kaddurah-Daouk was also the first to show that serum-based primary and secondary BA metabolites correlated with amyloid, tau and neurodegeneration biomarkers for AD: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers, brain atrophy (measured by MRI), and glucose metabolism providing support for a role of BA pathways in AD pathophysiology.

Prof. Kaddurah-Daouk of the Duke Psychiatry and Institute for Brain Sciences added:

The new data suggests that the Gut-Liver-Brain axis seems to play a major role in the development of cognitive and brain atrophy in Alzheimer’s disease. Metabolomics might contribute to an earlier diagnosis of the disease and enable effective treatments based on peripheral influences to brain pathogenesis. This might help to find out whether available drugs might work better when applied early in the disease course.”