• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • FAQ
  • Meet the Team
  • About The London Economic
  • Advertise
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
NEWSLETTER
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home Lifestyle Health

Parkinson’s disease ‘could be triggered by gut infection’

Parkinson's disease could be triggered by a gut infection, according to new research.

Steve Beech by Steve Beech
July 17, 2019
in Health
credit'PA

credit'PA

Parkinson’s disease could be triggered by a gut infection, according to new research.

In experiments mice injected with a mild intestinal bug developed a rodent form of the illness later in life.

It sent their immune system into overdrive reducing the release of dopamine from the brain – a chemical that controls movement.

The groundbreaking findings could lead to the development of a drug that prevents the devastating disorder.

It suggests some forms are an auto-immune condition – in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the body – offering a “window of time” to stop Parkinson’s.

These cases are likely to start in the gut – years before patients notice any symptoms of shaking or rigidity.

Co-first author Professor Diana Matheoud, a neuroscientist at Montreal University in Canada, said it adds to a “growing body of evidence” implicating the gut in Parkinson’s.

RelatedPosts

20 best face masks available to buy online

In curbing obesity, will the government learn from past mistakes?

Range of sanitary products for ‘people who menstruate’ amid JK Rowling gender debate

Hybrid labelling could drive healthier eating habits

She said: “This also provides a model to characterise the onset and develop therapeutic approaches.”

The study, published in the journal Nature, sheds fresh light on the degenerative nerve condition that affects 127,000 people in the UK. There are about one million patients in the US.

It extends recent work by the same group that identified a connection between Parkinson’s and the immune system.

The disease is now the world’s fastest growing neurological illness – ahead of dementia.

High-profile victims include actor Michael J Fox, who was diagnosed at the age of only 29, and the late boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

Other sufferers include Billy Connolly and Sweet Caroline singer Neil Diamond.

Parkinson’s is now the world’s fastest growing neurological illness – ahead of dementia.

There are now about 6.9 million patients worldwide – with the number is expected to grow to 14.2 million by 2040. This would qualify as a pandemic.

About one in 10 cases are due to mutations in genes known as PINK1 and Parkin responsible for healthy mitochondria – the power stations of cells.

They trigger Parkinson’s at a much earlier age. But in lab mice they do not generate disease symptoms – and the reason may lie in their intestines.

These animals are normally kept in germ-free facilities – conditions not representative of those encountered by people constantly exposed to bugs.

In Parkinson’s neurons that produce dopamine are destroyed – leading to the telltale tremors. The causes remain unknown.

Co-author Dr Louis-Eric Trudeau, based in the same lab, said: “Most of the current models of Parkinson’s are based on the belief neurons die due to toxic elements accumulating inside them.

“This does not explain, however, the fact that Parkinson’s pathology is initiated in patients several years before the emergence of the motor impairment and any noticeable loss of neurons.”

The Canadian team believe they have uncovered the reason. They infected young mice lacking the PINK1 gene with a bacterium called Citrobacter rodentium.

It mimics the common food poisoning bug E. coli in humans – causing intestinal inflammation.

The animals went on to develop Parkinson’s-style symptoms as they got older – despite being clear of the PINK1 mutation that kills brain cells.

What’s more these were temporarily reversed by injecting them with a drug called L-DOPA – which is used to treat patients.

In normal mice the immune system responded properly to the gut infection. But in those without PINK1 it over-reacted. This triggered “auto-immunity” – a process that leads the immune system to attack healthy cells.

Rather than dying from toxin accumulation the killing of dopamine producing neurons involves immune cells, say the researchers.

In the infected genetically-engineered mice, autoreactive toxic immune cells called T lymphocytes were shown to be present in the brain.

In lab tests on healthy neurons grown in culture dishes they were able to attack them, said the researchers.

Co-author Prof Samantha Gruenheid, a microbiologist at McGill University in Montreal, is confident of the link between Parkinson’s and infection.

It will stimulate further research – enabling researchers to develop and test novel therapies, she said.

Neuroscientists Prof Mary herrick, of Emory University in the US, and Prof Malu Tansey, of Florida University, who were not involved in the study, said it provides “compelling reasons” to re-examine the roles of PINK1 and parkin beyond inherited Parkinson’s.

They said the findings suggest all forms might be more similar than previously considered – and probably involve dysfunction of both the innate and the adaptive branches of the immune system, the roles of which in Parkinson’s are yet to be fully explored.

Parkinson’s pandemic with cases set to triple over next two decades
Support fearless, free, investigative journalism Support fearless, free, investigative journalism Support fearless, free, investigative journalism

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending fromTLE

  • All
  • trending

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

Stress, fear and homelessness: The threat looming over families confronted with eviction

File photo dated 07/11/03 of a prison cell.

The Other Prison Pandemic

Latest from TLE

Mail On Sunday ordered to print front-page statement on Meghan’s copyright win

Heavy traffic in Westminster generates exhaust pollution in London.

UK guilty of breaching air pollution limits, European Court of Justice rules

Government ‘acted unlawfully’ by failing to publish over 500 Covid contracts in time – High Court

UK is ‘over’ – Welsh first minister’s damning comments on future of Union

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

Address

The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE
Company number 09221879
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: jack@thelondoneconomic.com

Commercial enquiries, please contact: advertise@thelondoneconomic.com

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech & Auto
  • About The London Economic
  • Meet the Team
  • Privacy policy

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.