Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Thursday November 16 2017, @10:40PM   Printer-friendly
from the when-food-becomes-a-pain dept.

Good germs to fight bad germs.

Penn Medicine researchers have singled out a bacterial enzyme behind an imbalance in the gut microbiome linked to Crohn's disease. The new study, published online this week in Science Translational Medicine, suggests that wiping out a significant portion of the bacteria in the gut microbiome, and then re-introducing a certain type of "good" bacteria that lacks this enzyme, known as urease, may be an effective approach to better treat these diseases.

"Because it's a single enzyme that is involved in this process, it might be a targetable solution," said the study's senior author, Gary D. Wu, MD, associate chief for research in the division of Gastroenterology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. "The idea would be that we could 'engineer' the composition of the microbiota in some way that lacks this particular one."

[...] In a series of human and mouse studies, the researchers discovered that a type of "bad" bacteria known as Proteobacteria feeding on urea, a waste product that can end up back in the colon, played an important role in the development of dysbiosis.

The "bad" bacteria, which harbor the urease enzyme, convert urea into ammonia (nitrogen metabolism), which is then reabsorbed by bacteria to make amino acids that are associated with dysbiosis in Crohn's disease. "Good" bacteria may not respond in a similar manner, and thus may serve as a potential therapeutic approach to engineer the microbiome into a healthier state and treat disease.

If the technique works, it could open the door to treating other conditions like obesity.

Josephine Ni, et al A role for bacterial urease in gut dysbiosis and Crohn's disease. Science Translational Medicine, 2017; 9 (416): eaah6888 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aah6888


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 17 2017, @03:13AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 17 2017, @03:13AM (#598048)

    It makes far, far more sense to take it as a suppository, even if it's a pain in the ass.

    Personally, I'd hesitate to do that until there's a much greater understanding of the relevant roles of bacteria in the digestive track. Some bacteria are clearly helpful, but others seem to be just there or are actively harmful. For individuals with this sort of severe distress the trade off is possibly worthwhile, but it's still a risk.

    The best thing would be if doctors would have take a relevant sample from the patient prior to prescribing antibiotics so that the original bacterial mix has some hope of remerging.