NIH consortium to explore gut-brain connection in Parkinson’s
Duke Clinical Research Institute chosen to coordinate, manage project
The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched a consortium to support clinical studies designed to better understand the link between the gut and brain in Parkinson’s disease.
The Gut-Brain Communication in Parkinson’s Disease Consortium is motivated by the fact that there are compelling data indicating that the gastrointestinal (GI) tract plays a key role in Parkinson’s, but there’s still much to learn about the relationship.
The Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) has been selected to serve as the coordinating and data management center for the consortium.
“This is such an exciting opportunity for the DCRI to contribute to research into GI symptoms and changes in gut-brain communication in patients with PD [Parkinson’s disease],” Laurie Sanders, PhD, a principal investigator for the consortium and associate professor at Duke, said in a university news story. “This research will advance and accelerate our understanding of the potential role of the GI tract in the initiation, pathogenesis [development] and progression of PD, with a goal to ultimately improve patient diagnosis, care, and outcomes.”
Parkinson’s patients experience a wide range of nonmotor symptoms that can emerge years before the onset of the motor symptoms that typically lead to a diagnosis. Among them are GI problems such as constipation or nausea. Accumulating evidence suggests that changes in the GI tract may play an important role in the development of the neurodegenerative disease via the gut-brain axis, a bidirectional communication system between the gut and the brain.
Body first
Studies have suggested that for some patients, the abnormal protein clumps found in the Parkinson’s brain that are believed to contribute to neurodegeneration might originate in the gut. It’s thought that in this body-first Parkinson’s subtype, these abnormal proteins may later travel to the brain via the vagus nerve, a large nerve that runs between the brain and the intestines.
Many studies have indicated that the gut microbiome, the collection of microbes that populate the GI tract, is dysregulated in Parkinson’s disease, and that alterations to the microbiome may influence Parkinson’s risk and progression.
Scientists are trying to more precisely establish the nature of the link between the gut and the brain in Parkinson’s. The goal of the new NIH initiative is to help answer remaining questions about this relationship.
The NIH effort will consist of observational studies designed to better understand the mechanisms that connect the gut and brain in Parkinson’s. Researchers involved in the consortium will work to standardize the approach taken in these studies by developing a master protocol, coordinating participant enrollment, and managing other consortium-related activities. They’ll offer support for statistical and computational data analyses, and establish a central hub where data from the various studies can be stored.
Also a part of the consortium will be the establishment of a biorepository containing participant samples that can be used for future research through the OneDukebio Integrated Biospecimen Network.
“The state-of-the-art centralized biorepository at Duke follows biobanking best practices and ensures the integrity of specimens,” said Kristin Newby, MD, one of the consortium’s principal investigators and a Duke professor. “The biorepository is such a valuable asset to this research, allowing researchers to draw the important conclusions that will advance our understanding of PD.”
About the Author
