Climent Casals-Pascual

One of the best-known genetic risk factors for developing Parkinson’s disease is carrying variants of the GBA1 gene. A new study published in the journal Nature Medicine compared the microbiomes of 43 carriers of this gene who had not developed the disease with those of 271 Parkinson’s patients and 150 healthy individuals. The results showed, in addition to alterations in the microbiome in the patient group, that 25% of the microbiome of carriers of this gene exhibited alterations, representing an intermediate profile between the other two groups. The results were validated using independent cohorts from the United Kingdom, South Korea, and Turkey. According to the authors, “alterations in the gut microbiome can identify individuals with both genetic and non-genetic risk in the general population who may be progressing toward Parkinson’s disease.”
 

An international study has warned of the potential risks of widespread use of faecal microbiota transplantation without taking into account the region of the intestine where the transferred microbes arrive. The experiment, conducted on mice and human tissue samples, showed that the microbes from the transplant—mostly anaerobic microbes from the colon—colonised the small intestine, persisted there for months and modified that new environment, causing changes in the host's metabolism. According to the authors, whose study is published in the journal Cell, this may have long-lasting and unforeseen consequences, as well as imbalances in the intestinal ecosystem of patients.