Identifying Pathogens: Lots to Gain, Little to Lose

Following is a letter we sent to scientists that we thought should go to CR Way members.

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In Pittsburgh we discussed briefly the Harvard research, indicating that beta amyloid build-up in the brain could emanate from the brain’s defense against microbes. While I am sure that confirmation of the microbial role vis-a-vis beta amyloid and Alzheimer’s will take years, taking preventive action cannot come amiss.

Some may say we are overreacting: After all, much more must be done to prove that pathogens are a primary cause of Alzheimer’s. But I think we could gain much and lose little from preventive action since the evidence that microbes are involved in many aspects of age-related decline is also strong. 

CR Way Preventive Actions   

• Do more than ever via diet and lifestyle to make our neuronal tissues healthy and resilient.

• Evaluate and improve the balance between friendly and harmful microbes in our bodies’ microbiomes. Start with the gut and oral microbiomes, following shortly with skin and ocular microbiomes. To accomplish this, we need to identify which microbes are causing harm and how to reduce their presence and effect.

Dr. Noah Palm, will give an expert teleconference on Saturday, July 16, that focuses on this issue. Dr. Palm and his colleagues at Yale have published this paper:

Immunoglobulin A coating identifies colitogenic bacteria in inflammatory bowel disease.

Palm NW, de Zoete MR, Cullen TW, Goodman AL, Flavell RA, et al.

Cell. 2014 Aug 28;158(5):1000-10. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2014.08.006.

PMID: 25171403

It provides a way to identify microbes that cause inflammation in the gut. Here is an excerpt from IgA Targets the Troublemakers, in Cell host and microbe, describing the Palm study:

…, it has been difficult to identify which members of the microbiota are colitogenic, as most studies have relied on correlation analysis of the microbiota in healthy versus sick patients. Given the large amount of interpersonal variation in resident bacterial communities between individuals and many genetic susceptibility loci that may feed back to influence community composition, it is likely that some bacteria may cause problems only in a few individuals while being perfectly benign in others. So how can one identify which organisms are causing the problem in any given person?

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