How a newly examined gut microbe drives the gut-lung axis

Amazing stuff!

"Their findings highlight how a little-known member of the gut microbiome reshapes the lung immune environment to have both beneficial and detrimental effects on respiratory health. ...

For their study, the researchers looked at a protozoan called Tritrichomonas musculis, or T. mu, that resides harmlessly in the gut of mice.

They found that mice colonized with T. mu had unexpectedly high levels of specific immune cells in their lungs. Importantly, the researchers showed that some of these immune cells originated from the gut and moved to the lungs, where they fine-tuned the local immune environment and changed outcomes related to respiratory illnesses and infections.

By triggering the production and migration of these immune cells from the gut to the lung, T. mu functions as "a conductor in the intestine that orchestrates the immune system to populate other regions of the body," ...

One of the study's key findings was that T. mu-driven immune changes in the lung worsened airway inflammation caused by allergic asthma but appeared to have a protective effect against respiratory infections. ..."

From the highlights and abstract:

"Highlights

• Tritrichomonas musculis (T.mu) drives trafficking of gut-derived ILC2s to the lung

• T.mu instills an ILC2, B cell, and T cell tripartite network via ICOS-OX40-IL-2

• A T.mu-triggered lung immune network promotes steady-state eosinophilia

• T.mu exacerbates asthma and boosts shielding against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb)

Summary

The underlying mechanisms used by the intestinal microbiota to shape disease outcomes of the host are poorly understood. Here, we show that the gut commensal protozoan, Tritrichomonas musculis (T.mu), remotely shapes the lung immune landscape to facilitate perivascular shielding of the airways by eosinophils. Lung-specific eosinophilia requires a tripartite immune network between gut-derived inflammatory group 2 innate lymphoid cells and lung-resident T cells and B cells. This network exacerbates the severity of allergic airway inflammation while hindering the systemic dissemination of pulmonary Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The identification of protozoan DNA sequences in the sputum of patients with severe allergic asthma further emphasizes the relevance of commensal protozoa in human disease. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that a commensal protozoan tunes pulmonary immunity via a gut-operated lung immune network, promoting both beneficial and detrimental disease outcomes in response to environmental airway allergens and pulmonary infections."

How a newly examined gut microbe drives the gut-lung axis "A team led by University of Toronto researchers has discovered a new communication pathway between the gut and lung."

U of T study uncovers how a new gut microbe drives the gut-lung axis (original news release)

A gut commensal protozoan determines respiratory disease outcomes by shaping pulmonary immunity

Graphical abstract

Study reveals gut’s role in causing death by sleep deprivation

Great news! At least for those who are afflicted with something like chronic sleep deprivation or similar! Apparently, it took decades for this discovery. The negative health effects of prolonged sleep deprivation are devastating!
It appears as if this condition now can be easily diagnosed and treated!
Melatonin might even be a remedy!

"In a study on sleep-deprived fruit flies, published in Cell on June 4, researchers found that death is always preceded by the accumulation of molecules known as reactive oxidative species (ROS) in the gut. ... The guts of sleep-deprived flies had a dramatic buildup of ROS — highly reactive, oxygen-containing molecules that in large amounts can damage DNA and other components within cells, leading to cell death. The accumulation of ROS peaked around day 10 of sleep deprivation, and when deprivation was stopped, ROS levels decreased. ... They tested dozens of compounds with antioxidant properties known to neutralize ROS and identified 11 that, when given as a food supplement, allowed sleep-deprived flies to have a normal or near-normal lifespan. These compounds, such as melatonin, lipoic acid and NAD, were particularly effective at clearing ROS from the gut."

Study reveals gut’s role in causing death by sleep deprivation – Harvard Gazette Fruit fly study reveals gut’s role in causing death by sleep deprivation

Senility Caused By Placebo And Nocebo Effects

A Bit Of Background

I have been familiar with the Placebo effect for decades, but only recently I learnt about the Nocebo effect (in German language) from an article published online on 7/12/2012 by my favorite home town newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The following blog is not really related to the above mentioned article about the Nocebo effect.

Faith Moves Mountains

We read in Matthew 17:20 of the New Testament that faith as small as a mustard seed can make a mountain move from here to there and that nothing will be impossible. Did the Bible anticipate Placebo and Nocebo effects?

Besides faith, there is also individual will power: A will to succeed in life; a will to be healthy etc.

A Conjecture About Senility And Its Causes

I am not trying here to explain exhaustively all causes of senility. But I believe that some people as they grow older are conditioned or resigned to experience the usual frailties etc. that come with age, because this is supposed to happen with old age and we are biologically programmed to deteriorate with age.

We all know from experience that seniors have their moments. It’s considered normal by everyone.

It’s like a Placebo effect: I am old now, thus I am expected to have memory lapses, unsteady gait, etc.

It’s like a Nocebo effect, because I am old I should now be more absent minded, more napping, more prone to fall etc. With age also comes anxiety about age related frailties.

How do the trillions or so of microorganisms in our gut react when we have Placebo or Nocebo effects later in life.