On 7 April, Jan Potempa, head of the department of microbiology at Jagiellonian University in Krakow (Poland), presented recent research on how bacteria involved in gum disease (Porphyromonas gingivalis) might be stopped in moving from the mouth to the brain. The presentation was held during the American Association of Anatomists annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. Porphyromonas gingivalis is involved in periodontitis, a serious form of gum disease, the bacteria release toxins that might be connected to Alzheimer’s disease (AD), rheumatoid arthritis as well as aspiration pneumonia.
Recent findings from human post-mortem brain samples already underlined that there might be a connection between the toxin releasing bacteria and AD, which showed that P. gingivalis was more commonly found in the brains of people who died with AD than in those who did not. Other studies revealed that this could be due to the bacteria’s ability to travel from the mouth to the brain. Jan Potempa, presented a current phase I clinical trial for AD that aims at inhibiting so called “gingipains” in the hope that by blocking these enzymes, important to the bacteria, they can render P. gingivalis unable to travel to the brain and subsequently contribute to the development of AD.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-04/eb-gbi032819.php