(Press-News.org)
Findings from a new study conducted by a team of researchers at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and published in the journal mBio, reflect the important role that the gut microbiome (communities of bacteria) plays in the airway health of persons with cystic fibrosis.
Cystic fibrosis is an inherited disease that causes sticky, thick mucus to build up in the lungs and other organs, causing persistent infections that can be deadly. Until relatively recently, CF microbiology research has largely been focused on microorganisms in the lungs since most CF-related deaths have been due to respiratory complications.
But interest in the CF gut microbiome and its influence on the health of organs like the lungs has grown as the role of the gut microbiome in broader health outcomes has become more apparent.
For George O’Toole, PhD, and his colleagues at the Dartmouth Cystic Fibrosis Research Center(DartCF), the journey to better understand the gut-lung connection began more than 10 years ago, as part of a collaboration with physician-scientist Juliette Madan, MD, MS, who studies children with CF at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC).
“One of the key observations that Dr. Madan made early on was that, surprisingly, the best predictor of how a kid’s airway would function actually turned out to be the microbes in their gut rather than the microbes in their airway,” explains O’Toole, the Elmer R. Pfefferkorn, PhD, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Geisel and anchor author on the study. “We also had noticed that kids with CF were depleted for Bacteroides, a microbe known to be important in programming gut function and the immune system early in life.”
The findings prompted them to do some experiments in which they were able to show that secreted products from these Bacteroides strains could reduce inflammation in gut-derived cell lines grown in the lab. In further experiments, they were able to narrow down the molecule that was important for that process—a short-chain fatty acid known as propionate.
To reinforce their hypothesis, the team did experiments in mice with the same CF mutation as humans which showed that those mice that had Bacteroides introduced into their guts had less inflammation in their blood and airways after being exposed to Pseudomonas aeruginosa—a common bacterium in CF infections—than other similar mice that were not given Bacteroides. Importantly, a Bacteroides variant that could not make propionate could not reduce inflammation.
“We think this establishes the idea that changes in the gut are causing a reprogramming of the immune system in such a way that the body isn’t as sensitive to subsequent airway infections, so you don’t have as much disease burden,” says O’Toole. “The other exciting finding is that this actually provides, we think, a proof of concept that probiotics could be beneficial to kids with CF, so it could have important implications for treatments.”
O’Toole is quick to credit his colleagues at Geisel and at DHMC for their contributions to the study, which in addition to Madan’s clinic involved three labs in the CF Center and utilized microbiology experiments, tissue culture work, and animal studies. The Bliska, Cramer, and Ross groups at Geisel contributed to this study.
“There were a lot of moving parts to this project, so we needed a lot of help to get it all done,” he says. “We’re grateful, not only for the expertise that people provided but also for their willingness to participate. The culture of collaboration is core at DartCF, I think, to the success of our group and this is just a nice example of that.”
Founded in 1797, the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth strives to improve the lives of the communities it serves through excellence in learning, discovery, and healing. The Geisel School of Medicine is renowned for its leadership in medical education, healthcare policy and delivery science, biomedical research, global health, and in creating innovations that improve lives worldwide. As one of America’s leading medical schools, Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine is committed to training new generations of diverse leaders who will help solve our most vexing challenges in healthcare.
# # #
END
Scientists have long suspected nematodes, commonly known as roundworms, inhabit Utah’s Great Salt Lake sediments, but until recently, no one had actually recovered any there.
It took a University of Utah postdoc with a hammer and loads of field experience to solve the puzzle. Along with biology professor Michael Werner, postdoctoral researcher Julie Jung announced in a study published March 13 that they discovered thousands of tiny worms in the lake’s microbialites, those reef-like structures that cover about a fifth of the lakebed.
Their initial attempts failed to find nematodes in lakebed sediments, prompting Jung to take a hammer to samples ...
Most U.S. consumers surveyed in February 2024 predicted that they would see an increase in food prices over the next 12 months. Sixty-four percent of respondents predict food prices to rise in the next year, and the average predicted increase is 3.7%, according to the February Consumer Food Insights Report.
The survey-based report out of Purdue University’s Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability assesses food spending, consumer satisfaction and values, support of agricultural and food policies and trust in information sources. Purdue experts conducted and evaluated the survey, which ...
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Three peer-reviewed journals have recently published research papers by Penn State’s Hammel Family Human Rights Initiative. The papers illustrate how the initiative’s programs help K-12 educators address difficult issues such as racism.
The three journals that published the initiative papers are School-University Partnerships, Journal of Practitioner Research and Journal of Teacher Education. JTE, as it’s known, is widely considered the top-ranked research journal in the field of teacher education. Some of the scholars who independently ...
Oil and gas operations across the United States are emitting more than 6 million tons per year of methane, the main component of natural gas and the most abundant greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, according to Stanford-led research published March 13 in Nature.
These emissions, which result from both intentional vents and unintentional leaks, amount to $1 billion in lost commercial value for energy producers. The annual cost rises to $10 billion when researchers account for harm to the economy and human well-being caused by adding this amount of heat-trapping methane ...
Images
Physicists often turn to the Rayleigh-Taylor instability to explain why fluid structures form in plasmas, but that may not be the full story when it comes to the ring of hydrogen clumps around supernova 1987A, research from the University of Michigan suggests.
In a study published in Physical Review Letters, the team argues that the Crow instability does a better job of explaining the "string of pearls" encircling the remnant of the star, shedding light on a longstanding astrophysical mystery.
"The fascinating ...
NEWPORT, Ore. – Marine heat waves in the northeast Pacific Ocean create ongoing and complex disruptions of the ocean food web that may benefit some species but threaten the future of many others, a new study has shown.
The study, just published in the journal Nature Communications, is the first of its kind to examine the impacts of marine heat waves on the entire ocean ecosystem in the northern California Current, the span of waters along the West Coast from Washington to Northern California.
The researchers found that the biggest beneficiary of marine heat waves is gelatinous zooplankton – predominantly ...
The International Society of Microbiota (ISM) announces its 11th World Congress, "Targeting Microbiota 2024", scheduled for October 14-15 at the Corinthia Palace in Malta. This event is set to highlight the latest research and developments in microbiotal medicine, emphasizing its impact on human health and its potential in shaping future medical treatment approaches.
Detailed Workshop: Probiotic Prescribing Practices dedicated to Medical Professionals
The congress will feature a critical workshop on October 15, titled “Probiotic Prescribing Practices: Empowering Medical Doctors for Improved Patient Health.” ...
Engineering Biology for Climate & Sustainability is the fifth technical roadmap developed by the Engineering Biology Research Consortium (EBRC) and represents the first dedicated to innovations and opportunities towards overcoming a significant global challenge. The roadmap targets and challenges are aligned and were drawn from existing climate and sustainability literature, particularly those focused on long-term impacts and opportunities, including reports from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The roadmap consists of six themes ...
ChatGPT and its ability to hold conversations and produce written content have been the focus of a lot of attention in the last year in the field of technology and artificial intelligence. However, AI has been around for some time, helping us in all sorts of everyday tasks, from navigation systems to social network algorithms, not to mention machine translation. Ever since neural machine translation (NMT) systems began to be used on a widespread basis a few years ago, AI has seen exponential growth in its uptake in the translation industry. This has led to new challenges in the relationship between human and machine translators.
Today, the post-editing ...
An unassuming brown bovine from the south of Brazil has made history as the first transgenic cow capable of producing human insulin in her milk. The advancement, led by researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the Universidade de São Paulo, could herald a new era in insulin production, one day eliminating drug scarcity and high costs for people living with diabetes.
“Mother Nature designed the mammary gland as a factory to make protein really, really efficiently. We can take advantage ...
