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H Pylori may trigger Parkinson's

Glynis Steele

Senior Member
Messages
404
Location
Newcastle upon Tyne UK
Suspect bacterium may trigger Parkinsons
Mouse study finds stomach ulcer-causing microbes may also affect brainBy Tina Hesman Saey Web edition : Sunday, May 22nd, 2011 Text Size NEW ORLEANS Brain cells may be the latest victim of a bacterial bad guy already charged with causing ulcers and stomach cancer.

Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium that lives in the stomachs of about half the people in the world, may help trigger Parkinsons disease, researchers reported May 22 at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. Parkinsons disease is a neurological disorder that kills dopamine-producing cells in some parts of the brain. People with the disease have trouble controlling their movements. About 60,000 new cases of the disease are diagnosed each year in the United States.

Some previous studies have suggested that people with Parkinsons disease are more likely than healthy people to have had ulcers at some point in their lives and are more likely to be infected with H. pylori. But until now those connections between the bacterium and the disease have amounted to circumstantial evidence.

Now researchers are gathering evidence that may pin at least some blame for Parkinsons disease on the notorious bacterium.

Middle-aged mice infected with the ulcer-causing bacterium developed abnormal movement patterns over several months of infection, said Traci Testerman, a microbiologist at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport. Young mice infected with the bacterium didnt show any signs of movement problems. Testermans colleague, neuroscientist Michael Salvatore, found that Helicobacter-infected mice make less dopamine in parts of the brain that control movement, possibly indicating that dopamine-making cells are dying just as they do in Parkinsons disease patients.

The bacteria didnt have to be alive to cause the problem. Feeding mice killed H. pylori produced the same effect, suggesting that some biochemical component of the bacterium is responsible.

A candidate for the disease-causing molecule is modified cholesterol. Helicobacter cant make its own cholesterol, so it steals cholesterol from its host and then sticks a sugar molecule on it. The structure of the modified cholesterol resembles a toxin from a tropical cycad; people in Guam who have eaten the plant's seeds have developed a disease called ALS-parkinsonism dementia complex. Testerman and her colleagues are trying to determine if the modified cholesterol alone can lead to Parkinson-like symptoms in mice or if some other factor from the bacterium is also needed.

Even if the scientists show that H. pylori can cause or contribute to Parkinsons disease, its not clear whether getting rid of the organism would be a good thing. Although the bacterium causes ulcers and stomach cancer, it also helps protect against allergies, asthma and esophageal cancer and other acid reflux diseases. It is hard to know at this point exactly how letting Helicobacter stay or making it go will affect any individual person, said microbiologist Stanley Maloy of San Diego State University. But it is clear that a possible link between Parkinsons disease and the stomach bacterium can no longer be ignored.

Theres enough solid data that it would be wrong not to look into it more closely, Maloy said.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/74653/title/Suspect_bacterium_may_trigger_Parkinson’s

Glynis
 

anciendaze

Senior Member
Messages
1,841
This could be entirely true, and still not be the whole story. For many years the dominant theory concerning peptic ulcers was psychological. (Sound familiar?) There is no question people with ulcers were struggling to function normally. What was missing was a way to predict who would develop ulcers.

We now know XMRV replicates preferentially on mucosal surfaces like the lining of stomach and intestines. We suspect it infects macrophages, at least when these are subject to immune challenge. Chronic viral infection could lie below the known bacterial infection, undetected.
 

redo

Senior Member
Messages
874
Fascinating. It makes sense. I think h.pylori might make way for other pathogens (which might cause RA, ALS, MS etc).
 

Enid

Senior Member
Messages
3,309
Location
UK
Very interesting indeed Glynis - "origins" in the gut seem to mount up daily for CNS disturbance/implications.
 

Waverunner

Senior Member
Messages
1,079
Thanks for this news. I wonder how long it will take till we can connect most of the dots.
 

Pea

Senior Member
Messages
124
Very interesting. My friend started with ALS diagnosis, then neuro said he couldn't diagnose that because the nerves in his limbs were OK. A naturopath helping through methylation suggested it is more Parkinson-like, AND she strongly suspects that because of his past history, he now has H pylori. So I was searching for that and found this thread.

Years ago, he would get terribly irritable if he was hungry. When he was put on antibiotic for something else, that affect cleared up. A couple years later they came out with the discovery about treating ulcers for bacteria.

Can you get rid of h pylori with natural supplements, or will he need antibiotics?
 

valentinelynx

Senior Member
Messages
1,310
Location
Tucson
Very interesting. My friend started with ALS diagnosis, then neuro said he couldn't diagnose that because the nerves in his limbs were OK. A naturopath helping through methylation suggested it is more Parkinson-like, AND she strongly suspects that because of his past history, he now has H pylori. So I was searching for that and found this thread.

Years ago, he would get terribly irritable if he was hungry. When he was put on antibiotic for something else, that affect cleared up. A couple years later they came out with the discovery about treating ulcers for bacteria.

Can you get rid of h pylori with natural supplements, or will he need antibiotics?

There is some evidence that mastic gum can help eradicate h. pylori. It is not as effective as triple therapy (standard medicine with 2 antibiotics and a proton pump inhibitor) but does work for some. I just looked into this recently because I had an ulcer or bad gastritis from NSAID use. Might be an option for those who cannot tolerate antibiotic therapy.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19879118

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199812243392618
 

RustyJ

Contaminated Cell Line 'RustyJ'
Messages
1,200
Location
Mackay, Aust
I was diagnosed with pylori and given a course of antibiotics. I was then given the all clear, but I wonder if the testing is conclusive. I think the testing only checks the stomach. What if the bug goes into the small intestine or elsewhere, to cause the me/cfs symptoms I have? Of course it may be that pylori is an opportunistic secondary virus.
 

Pea

Senior Member
Messages
124
Rusty, I guess H Pylori can hide from testing, and/or return. I was talking to somebody else yesterday who can tell by her stomach acid response when she gets it back.

We are not getting antibiotics, so will have to go the natural route. He just got a cold for the first time in years so I am hoping that means the pylori is breaking up due to antioxidants & probiotics, and his immune response is finally calming down ?

What do you guys mean when you say HP becomes an opportunistic second virus?

I had not heard of the mastic gum - tks! Here is another article with some natural remedies:
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2008/jan2008_report_agingStomachs_01.htm?source=search&key=h pylori
 

RustyJ

Contaminated Cell Line 'RustyJ'
Messages
1,200
Location
Mackay, Aust
Rusty, I guess H Pylori can hide from testing, and/or return. I was talking to somebody else yesterday who can tell by her stomach acid response when she gets it back.

We are not getting antibiotics, so will have to go the natural route. He just got a cold for the first time in years so I am hoping that means the pylori is breaking up due to antioxidants & probiotics, and his immune response is finally calming down ?

What do you guys mean when you say HP becomes an opportunistic second virus?

I had not heard of the mastic gum - tks! Here is another article with some natural remedies:
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2008/jan2008_report_agingStomachs_01.htm?source=search&key=h pylori

Hi Pea. I have just begun using mastic gum - hopeful. Saw info on Zinc-carnosine, will probably try that too, maybe in combo with mastic gum. The good news about the mastic gum is that results should be evident in a short time, and it's cheap.

I also have severe dental decay, which has been associated with pylori. Not sure how capsules will treat mouth infection. May have to sit a capsule or two under the tongue.

A popular theory is that a primary infection compromises the immune system so that secondary infections proliferate. Many me/cfs patients have multiple infections, eg pylori, mycoplasma, herpes, ebv, and the search is on for a Theory of Everything that ties this all together.
 

RustyJ

Contaminated Cell Line 'RustyJ'
Messages
1,200
Location
Mackay, Aust
The quote from post #1 may be misleading. On further investigation, only one of the 4? strains was associated with reduced incidence of asthma and allergies. Also this effect, if I read the research correctly, was only relevant for children. It may be that the other strain(s) may be the culprits in ulcers and gastritis. Also accuracy of testing does seem to vary according to strain. It may also be that some variations are not detected at all. After the XMRV experience, this would not surprise me.

Even if the scientists show that H. pylori can cause or contribute to Parkinsons disease, its not clear whether getting rid of the organism would be a good thing. Although the bacterium causes ulcers and stomach cancer, it also helps protect against allergies, asthma and esophageal cancer and other acid reflux diseases.

I also note this is a mouse study. There are human studies showing abatement of symptoms such as fatigue, allergies, when pylori is eradicated.

Inverse Associations of Helicobacter pylori With Asthma and Allergy
Yu Chen, PhD, MPH; Martin J. Blaser, MD
Arch Intern Med. 2007;167(8):821-827.

ABSTRACT


Background Acquisition of Helicobacter pylori, which predominantly occurs before age 10 years, may reduce risks of asthma and allergy.
Methods We evaluated the associations of H pylori status with history of asthma and allergy and with skin sensitization using data from 7663 adults in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for currently and ever having asthma, allergic rhinitis, allergy symptoms in the previous year, and allergen-specific skin sensitization were computed comparing participants seropositive for cagA or cagA+ strains of H pylori with those without H pylori.

Results The presence of cagA+ H pylori strains was inversely related to ever having asthma (OR, 0.79; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.63-0.99), and the inverse association of cagA positivity with childhood-onset (age 15 years) asthma was stronger (OR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.43-0.93) than that with adult-onset asthma (OR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.72-1.32). Colonization with H pylori, especially with a cagA+ strain, was inversely associated with currently (OR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.62-0.96) or ever (OR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.62-0.94) having a diagnosis of allergic rhinitis, especially for childhood onset (OR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.37-0.82). Consistent inverse associations were found between H pylori colonization and the presence of allergy symptoms in the previous year and sensitization to pollens and molds.

Conclusion These observations support the hypothesis that childhood acquisition of H pylori is associated with reduced risks of asthma and allergy.

http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/167/8/821