With dementia cases on an alarming worldwide rise 鈥� more than 10 million cases are diagnosed each year 鈥� a team from 樱花视频 Health is immersed in ways to better understand the disease and combat its spread.
One prime example is a recent study by Hariom Yadav, PhD, and a group of researchers who have made substantial findings about how harmful viruses in the gut may contribute to the debilitating condition.
Dr. Yadav, director of the 樱花视频 Health Center for Microbiome Research and associate professor of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair in the 樱花视频 Health Morsani College of Medicine, is senior author of two newly published studies involving two teams of 樱花视频 Health researchers. His research focuses on how gut health influences brain health and cognitive decline.
This pilot study, published in the journal Gut Microbes in December, is entitled . It details how viruses in the gut change considerably as people get older, particularly as they move from their 60s into their 80s and beyond. How these gut viruses interact with bacteria in the gut can eventually lead to cognitive dysfunction in older adults.
Their focus was on the role these gut viruses play in infecting bacteria and setting in motion the possibility of dementia. They noticed that different types of viruses that infect bacteria, called bacteriophage, existed in dementia patients or early dementia study participants, as compared to cognitively healthy individuals.
鈥淥ne can proliferate inside the bacterial cell and make multiple units for themselves 鈥� breaking down the cells and disrupting the bacteria,鈥� Dr. Yadav said. 鈥淭hen they come out and infect the other cells. In this way, they kill a lot of bacteria.鈥�
As people get older, their microbiome 鈥斅� the community of microorganisms that lives in their gut and is unique to each person 鈥� changes as well. Bacteriophages play a significant role by interacting with bacteria, and that ultimately links with dementia.
The team concluded that as people get older, the role that bacteriophage play, and how they interact with gut bacteria, develops unique patterns that may contribute to dementia.
The study鈥檚 first author, Adewale James, a PhD candidate in the Yadav lab, said that viruses in the gut represent one of the most important components of the gut microbiome, but have been understudied because of their complexity and limitations of technologies.
鈥淢y overall aim is to characterize these gut viruses to understand their causal or consequential roles in cognitive decline,鈥� he said. 鈥淓arly signs suggest we might be on the verge of unraveling how these tiny but countless microbial entities could be impacting our cognitive fitness.鈥�
Ultimately, harmful microorganisms in the gut create an inflammatory cascade that is present in dementia patients. The potentially good news is that these microorganisms are heavily influenced by a person鈥檚 diet, and eating a balanced diet helps regulate gut health.
Genetics play only a minor part in most chronic conditions like dementia themselves, said Dr. Yadav. But environmental and dietary factors can exacerbate the role of genetics in dementia, ultimately contributing to the pathology of bacteria and viruses.
鈥淏ear in mind, pathology does not develop in one day,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t is a really long process, a journey of 20 to 30 years when small things keep accumulating. We don鈥檛 yet have early detection but clear-cut science shows that if we are doing something wrong 鈥� for example eating the wrong food 鈥� that will change the microbiome, which will keep sending chronic detrimental signals to the brain, resulting in neurodegeneration.鈥�
Other 樱花视频 Health researchers on the virome study are: Shalini Jain, Noorul A. Adil, Dayna Goltz, Divyani Tangudu, Diptaraj S. Chaudhari, Rohit Shukla, Vivek Kumar, and Ambuj Kumar.