Brigham and Women’s Hospital researchers have made a big discovery: they created a special type of good bacteria, or probiotic, that might help the brain fight off diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS).
This happens when our body’s defense system mistakenly attacks our brain.
Why is This Big News?
A lot of Americans have diseases where their immune system attacks their own body, including their brain.
But treating these brain diseases is tough because most medicines can’t get to the brain easily. There’s like a shield around the brain, keeping these medicines out.
Dr. Francisco Quintana, who led this research, said that using good bacteria to make medicine inside our body could change the way we treat many diseases.
Unlike regular drugs, these bacteria could keep making medicine all the time, which is great for diseases that last a lifetime.
How Does This Work?
The researchers were curious about some cells that are in our gut and around our brain. These cells can control our defense system. They found a special way these cells stop the defense system from attacking our own body.
Dr. Quintana explained it like a brake in a car. Most of the time, this brake works fine in us. But in some people, this brake is broken, so the body can’t stop the defense system from attacking itself.
They found out that a molecule called lactate can activate this brake. So, they made a probiotic that can produce lactate.
We’ve all heard of probiotics. They are the good bacteria that we sometimes take as supplements to help our gut. Dr. Quintana and his team took these good bacteria and made them even better.
When they gave these special probiotics to mice with a disease like MS, it helped their brain. The interesting part? These bacteria stayed in the gut but still helped the brain, thanks to some signals they sent.
Dr. Quintana said that our gut and brain are more connected than we thought. They focused on MS in this study to see if they could use this connection to treat brain diseases. And it looks like they can!
What’s Next?
This research was only done in mice, but the researchers think it could work in people too. They’re also looking at how this could help other diseases, like stomach problems.
The team is starting a company to take their research to the next step.
Dr. Quintana believes in the power of using good bacteria as medicine. If these tiny creatures in our gut can help our brain, they might be able to help other parts of our body too.
If you care about health, please read studies about berries that can prevent cancer, diabetes, and obesity and 12 foods that lower blood pressure.
For more information about health, please see recent studies about diet to fight diabetic eye damage, and results showing these antioxidants could help reduce dementia risk.
The study was published in Nature.
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