Microbiome expands the genetic and functional capacity of its human host. Susan Lynch explains that human microbiome develops early in life and that gut microbes shape immune function and relate to disease outcomes in childhood.
She also explores next-generation microbiome therapeutics and research.
Interactive immune systems are at the center of cancer and other diseases. Dr. Matthew Krummel explores how the immune system can regulate cancer progression. Recorded on 10/31/2019.
To read more: https://www.uctv.tv/shows/Understanding-and-Treating-Cancer-and-Other-Diseases-Through-the-Immune-System-35239
From a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel online article:
“Dysautonomia is probably significantly more common than we realize,” says Jeremy Cutsforth-Gregory, a neurologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “I think it’s significantly underdiagnosed.” In about half of POTS cases, he adds, the patient’s disease grows out of the immune response to an infection.
Ryan Cooley, a doctor and co-director of the Dysautonomia Center at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, says detecting the disorder is especially challenging because “typically there isn’t a dominant symptom or physical finding.”
Perhaps the most common clue to the disorder is that patients find that when they stand up from a chair their heart races and they feel light-headed.
To read more: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2019/11/14/invisible-illness-leaves-millions-undiagnosed-barely-functioning/2507547001/
From a Scientific American online release:
One of the immune system’s jobs is to protect us from harmful bacterial. And the beneficial organisms that we refer to as probiotics contribute to this effort in a number of ways. In the gut, a robust population of beneficial bacteria can help crowd out harmful bacteria, making it harder for them to thrive. In addition, probiotic bacteria can influence the activity of our own immune cells, regulating inflammation, barrier function, and cell-to-cell signaling.
One way to foster healthy intestinal bacteria is to eat more of the foods these bugs like to eat—namely, fiber. Increasing your intake of plant fibers from vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds is like filling a bird-feeder with the kind of seeds that the beautiful songbirds you want attract like best. If you feed them, they will come!
And if we want to attract a lot of different types of songbirds—er, bacteria—then we want to put out a variety of foods. That means you don’t just want to get all your fiber from a single source, such as a fiber supplement. You want to get it fiber from lots of different kinds of vegetables, fruits, legumes, grains, nuts and seeds.
From a Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News release:
“But what’s really intriguing is that we can now see how vitamin D might help the immune system fight cancer. We know when the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway is active in melanoma, it can dampen down the immune response causing fewer immune cells to reach the inside of the tumor, where they could potentially fight the cancer better.
“Although vitamin D on its own won’t treat cancer, we could take insights from the way it works to boost the effects of immunotherapy, which uses the immune system to find and attack cancer cells.”
In melanoma patients, elevated serum levels of vitamin D appear to be helpful. Tumors are thinner. Outcomes are improved. But how, exactly, are these benefits realized? To answer this question, researchers at the University of Leeds scrutinized the interaction between vitamin D and the vitamin D receptor (VDR) on melanoma cells. The researchers, fully aware that vitamin D on its own won’t treat cancer, hoped to identify cell signaling pathways that could lead to new therapeutic strategies.
To read more: https://www.genengnews.com/news/vitamin-ds-melanoma-taming-ways-uncovered/
From a Sleep Review Magazine online release:
The current study points to the role of norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter that signals arousal and stress in the central nervous system. This chemical is present in low levels in the brain while we sleep, but when production ramps up it arouses our nerve cells, causing us to wake up and become alert. The study showed that norepinephrine also acts on a specific receptor, the beta2 adrenergic receptor, which is expressed at high levels in microglia. When this chemical is present in the brain, the microglia slip into a sort of hibernation.
New research shows that immune cells called microglia—which play an important role in reorganizing the connections between nerve cells, fighting infections, and repairing damage—are primarily active during sleep.
The findings, which were conducted in mice and appear in the journal Nature Neuroscience, have implications for brain plasticity, diseases like autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, and dementia, which arise when the brain’s networks are not maintained properly, and the ability of the brain to fight off infection and repair the damage following a stroke or other traumatic injury.
To read more: http://www.sleepreviewmag.com/2019/10/during-sleep-immune-cells-rewire/?ref=cl-title
From a Science Magazine online article:
Antibiotic use diminished the gut microbiome composition and impaired the ability of the immune system to generate antibodies. Treatment with antibiotics also disturbed bile acid metabolism and caused inflammatory responses.
From the original findings the Journal “Cell.com”:
Emerging evidence indicates a central role for the microbiome in immunity. However, causal evidence in humans is sparse. Here, we administered broad-spectrum antibiotics to healthy adults prior and subsequent to seasonal influenza vaccination. Despite a 10,000-fold reduction in gut bacterial load and long-lasting diminution in bacterial diversity, antibody responses were not significantly affected. However, in a second trial of subjects with low pre-existing antibody titers, there was significant impairment in H1N1-specific neutralization and binding IgG1 and IgA responses.
In addition, in both studies antibiotics treatment resulted in (1) enhanced inflammatory signatures (including AP-1/NR4A expression), observed previously in the elderly, and increased dendritic cell activation; (2) divergent metabolic trajectories, with a 1,000-fold reduction in serum secondary bile acids, which was highly correlated with AP-1/NR4A signaling and inflammasome activation. Multi-omics integration revealed significant associations between bacterial species and metabolic phenotypes, highlighting a key role for the microbiome in modulating human immunity.
“Seizures are not uncommon in the elderly. Nearly a quarter of those who have a first seizure are over 65. Most are caused by a stroke or a mass; traumatic head injuries can cause them. So can abnormalities in blood chemistry. In the emergency room, the man had no sign of any of these, despite a thorough exam and extensive testing and imaging.”
The patient had both neurological and psychiatric symptom, which complicated a speedy diagnosis. A “new group of disorders” involving the “immune system wrongly attacking the brain” was a final diagnosis. Read the NY Times Magazine article in the link below to learn more:
Boomers Daily 