Overview
- In Cell Reports, Case Western Reserve researchers report that inflammatory glycogen from certain gut bacteria provokes a myeloid immune response that harms brain cells.
- Interventions that reduced these microbial sugars in experimental models improved brain health and extended lifespan.
- In a small human sample, 70% of 23 ALS/FTD patients showed high levels of the harmful glycogen versus about one-third of controls.
- The mechanism offers a potential explanation for variable disease expression in C9orf72 mutation carriers by positioning gut microbes as an environmental trigger.
- The team plans larger patient microbiome surveys and is preparing clinical trials of glycogen-degrading therapies that could start within about a year, enabled by a germ-free ‘cage-in-cage’ facility.