Latest breakthrough in Alzheimer’s research links the gut-liver-brain axis

BIOCRATES, a global company focused on targeted metabolomics, has reported the latest breakthrough in Alzheimer’s research from the Alzheimer’s Disease Metabolomics Consortium (ADMC), connecting how gut bacteria and lipid metabolism influences the disease.

The new data, demonstrated at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC), Chicago, USA, links the gut-liver-brain axis in the development and progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Using BIOCRATES technology — which enables readouts of the host microbiome interaction — scientists were able to share their findings that liver gut metabolic defects are correlated with cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s.

Additionally, the findings indicate that liver gut metabolic defects influence the pathological features of Alzheimer’s, including neuro-inflammation and amyloid-beta deposition.

The ADMC is a consortium of international academic institutes, including BIOCRATES, that is led by Prof. Rima Kaddurah-Daouk of Duke Medical Center. It was formed as part of the NIA Accelerated Medicine Partnership in Alzheimer Disease (AMP-AD) to investigate pathogenic mechanisms in Alzheimer’s.

Aiming to map metabolic failures across the trajectory of Alzheimer’s and how the human metabolism and the intestinal microbiota contribute to this, recent research from Kaddurah-Daouk has indicated that the microbiome in the gut seems to play a major role in Alzheimer’s pathogenesis.

In two separate studies involving more than 1,500 individuals, Kaddurah-Daouk’s team showed that Alzheimer’s patients had lower levels of bile acids produced by the liver in their blood, while secondary bile acids, which are bacterially produced and known to be cytotoxic, were found at higher concentrations. Additionally, Kaddurah-Daouk was the first to show that serum-based primary and secondary bile acid metabolites correlated with amyloid, tau and neurodegeneration biomarkers for Alzheimer’s.

“BIOCRATES is excited to be a part of this important study. These findings underscore the importance of metabolism in the pathogenesis of many diseases. Results like these are only possible in large-scale collaborative research approaches, which our technology is perfectly suited to support,” commented Dr Wulf Fischer-Knuppertz, CEO of BIOCRATES. “BIOCRATES continues to develop technologies for the better and deeper understanding of the host microbiome and its implications in the pathophysiology and progression of diseases such as Alzheimer’s.”

“The new data suggests that the Gut-Liver-Brain axis seems to play a major role in the development of cognitive and brain atrophy in Alzheimer’s disease,” explained Kaddurah-Daouk. “Metabolomics might contribute to an earlier diagnosis of the disease and enable effective treatments based on peripheral influences to brain pathogenesis. This might help to find out whether available drugs might work better when applied early in the disease course.”