Researcher’s talk will tackle aging and gut bacteria in MS

 

Germs, genes, and aging each play a role in the development of multiple sclerosis (MS), but researchers are still figuring out how they’re connected. Now, a speaker at a meeting held by the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis will shed light on recent findings that offer new insight into a specific type of germ – gut bacteria.

Suhayl Dhib-Jalbut, MD, ACTRIMS’s former president, will highlight his team’s investigation into the links between aging and alterations in gut microbiota in MS during the Kenneth P. Johnson Memorial Lecture on Feb. 1 at the meeting in San Diego.

“The link between gut bacteria and autoimmune disease is a hot topic,” Dr. Dhib-Jalbut, professor and chairman of the departments of neurology at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, N.J., and New Jersey Medical School, Newark, said in an interview. “Our contribution is that we’ve identified immune pathways and mechanisms that explain the relationship between age, gut bacteria, and incidence of disease.”

Dr. Dhib-Jalbut’s presentation will focus on findings of a study by his team that was published late last year in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. (Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Oct 31;114[44]:E9318-27).

As the study explains, Dr. Dhib-Jalbut and colleagues triggered spontaneous experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in transgenic mice by disrupting gut bacteria during adolescence and early young adulthood. But the process of aging in the mice past early young adulthood suppressed EAE onset by boosting immunologic tolerance.

The findings in this animal model offer insight into why the incidence of MS peaks at ages 20-40 years in humans, he said. “The implication is that one can perhaps manipulate gut bacteria with antibiotics or other treatments to impact the course of MS.”

 

 

Germs, genes, and aging each play a role in the development of multiple sclerosis (MS), but researchers are still figuring out how they’re connected. Now, a speaker at a meeting held by the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis will shed light on recent findings that offer new insight into a specific type of germ – gut bacteria.

Suhayl Dhib-Jalbut, MD, ACTRIMS’s former president, will highlight his team’s investigation into the links between aging and alterations in gut microbiota in MS during the Kenneth P. Johnson Memorial Lecture on Feb. 1 at the meeting in San Diego.

“The link between gut bacteria and autoimmune disease is a hot topic,” Dr. Dhib-Jalbut, professor and chairman of the departments of neurology at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, N.J., and New Jersey Medical School, Newark, said in an interview. “Our contribution is that we’ve identified immune pathways and mechanisms that explain the relationship between age, gut bacteria, and incidence of disease.”

Dr. Dhib-Jalbut’s presentation will focus on findings of a study by his team that was published late last year in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. (Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Oct 31;114[44]:E9318-27).

As the study explains, Dr. Dhib-Jalbut and colleagues triggered spontaneous experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in transgenic mice by disrupting gut bacteria during adolescence and early young adulthood. But the process of aging in the mice past early young adulthood suppressed EAE onset by boosting immunologic tolerance.

The findings in this animal model offer insight into why the incidence of MS peaks at ages 20-40 years in humans, he said. “The implication is that one can perhaps manipulate gut bacteria with antibiotics or other treatments to impact the course of MS.”

 

 

Germs, genes, and aging each play a role in the development of multiple sclerosis (MS), but researchers are still figuring out how they’re connected. Now, a speaker at a meeting held by the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis will shed light on recent findings that offer new insight into a specific type of germ – gut bacteria.

Suhayl Dhib-Jalbut, MD, ACTRIMS’s former president, will highlight his team’s investigation into the links between aging and alterations in gut microbiota in MS during the Kenneth P. Johnson Memorial Lecture on Feb. 1 at the meeting in San Diego.

“The link between gut bacteria and autoimmune disease is a hot topic,” Dr. Dhib-Jalbut, professor and chairman of the departments of neurology at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, N.J., and New Jersey Medical School, Newark, said in an interview. “Our contribution is that we’ve identified immune pathways and mechanisms that explain the relationship between age, gut bacteria, and incidence of disease.”

Dr. Dhib-Jalbut’s presentation will focus on findings of a study by his team that was published late last year in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. (Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Oct 31;114[44]:E9318-27).

As the study explains, Dr. Dhib-Jalbut and colleagues triggered spontaneous experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in transgenic mice by disrupting gut bacteria during adolescence and early young adulthood. But the process of aging in the mice past early young adulthood suppressed EAE onset by boosting immunologic tolerance.

The findings in this animal model offer insight into why the incidence of MS peaks at ages 20-40 years in humans, he said. “The implication is that one can perhaps manipulate gut bacteria with antibiotics or other treatments to impact the course of MS.”