Alzheimer’s research reveals a new therapeutic pathway for the disease that causes memory

The intestine contains the largest collection of immune cells in the body. The new study at the Buck Institute shows that some of these immune cells travel along the brain/intestine axis to a model of Alzheimer’s (AD) disease mouse that provides a possible new treatment for memory disease. The survey, published in the issue of August 29, 2025 of Cell reports, It also shows that the diet of mice a high -fiber diet reduces the weakness associated with ad, including horror.

This paper brings the bowel immune system to the forefront of neurodegenerative disease pathology. Given the size and ability of cells to travel, it makes sense that these immune cells will have the ability to affect greater physiology. ”

Daniel Winer, MD, Buck Associate Professor, Immologist and Coordinator of the Work

Professor Buck Julie Andersen, PhD, Neuroscientist and co-producer writer adds, “As far as we know, this is the deeper research of the bowel immune system in a model of neurodegenerative disease.

The project was led by postdoctoral colleague Priya Makhijani, PhD, an immunologist organizing a joint appointment at Winer and Andersen workshops. He found that the specific cells that produce antibodies, usually responsible for the maintenance of the germ and the immune system of the intestine in harmony, were reduced in mice raised in the development of AD. He also discovered that this type of cell has a migratory signature. The researchers found that the b-cells specifically in the intestine and their migratory receptors in the brain and border area, the meningeal mater. “It is noteworthy that we have found that these immune cells on the brain limit that recognize the bacteria that lived in the intestines were accumulated in the advertising brain,” says Makhijani.

Wanting to understand what led to the loss of immune cells in the intestine, Makhijani and the group found that this binding partner of the intestinal immunocyte receptor, a well -thought -out chemist -known chemical, known for migration, was produced at higher levels. The migration signature was also identified in human advertising brains through previously undergoing studies. Partners with associates on the University of Health Network, part of the University of Toronto, the team conducted an experiments on the shaft using a small molecule drug, suggesting that a new large range mechanism can act along the bowel-head.

The benefits of a high fiber diet

Makhijani and the group found that animal nutrition was the anti-inflammatory balance of the pre-biomatic fibers that restored in the gut of advertising mice. “We found that these migratory cells were replaced in the intestine and that the weakness associated with AD, including the characteristic horror, was reduced to animals.” Noting that inulin makes short chain fatty acids and other gut -focused metabolites and can also be systematically circulated, says diet improves bowel health and reduced signaling of chemocine in the brain. “Again, this included a two -way axis,” he says.

Winer notes that while the high fiber diet did not steadily reduce plates in the mice brain, it affected overall well -being. “We did a test that includes 31 aging measurements in these mice.

The big picture

While the study provides a comprehensive characterization of changes in the immune system of the bowel in a neurological disease, researchers say it is needed that more work is needed to determine whether these changes are a response to brain lesions or if they lead the disease itself. Winer reports that one possibility is that age -related infestations can cause inflammation that causes advertising to the brain with chemocins that signal the bowel immune system for help in dealing with infestation. “At first, the process is likely to be protective, but over time the intestine becomes compromised in place of the scene for more dangerous types of bacteria to bloom, which feeds inflammation throughout the body.”

Makhijani is willing to investigate the potential of understanding and/or changing the germ of the intestine in the context of the disease. “Perhaps there is a microbicide that marks an increased risk of neurological disease.