Can gum disease cause Alzheimer's?

Have gum disease at risk for Alzheimer's?

In recent years, an increasing number of scientific studies have substantiated an alarming hypothesis: Alzheimer's disease is not just a normal disease but an infection. A bacterial trigger seems to be gum disease.

Researchers at the University of Louisville found in their current research that Alzheimer's disease appears to be an infection caused by gum disease. The physicians published the results of their study in the English language journal "Science Advances".

Alzheimer's is mainly characterized by increasing memory lapses or difficulties in retrieving memories. (Image: Robert Kneschke / fotolia.com)

Chronic periodontitis in Alzheimer's patients

The experts are still trying to understand the exact mechanisms of Alzheimer's. The new study makes it clear that gum disease has an impact on the development of Alzheimer's disease. In their research, the scientists were able to detect pathogens of chronic periodontitis (a gum disease) in the brain of deceased Alzheimer's patients. This is not the first time that the two factors have been linked, but the medical profession has now made more detailed research on this topic. In experiments with mice, oral infection with the pathogen resulted in colonization of the brain by the bacteria, along with increased production of amyloid beta (Aβ), the sticky proteins frequently associated with Alzheimer's disease. The experts point out that this need not yet be conclusive evidence of the cause of Alzheimer's and that further investigation is urgently needed.

Detected toxic enzymes correlate with two markers of Alzheimer's disease

Infectious agents have previously been implicated in the development and progression of Alzheimer's disease, but the signs of causation were unconvincing, study authors say. For the first time, solid evidence linking the intracellular Gram-negative pathogen P. gingivalis and Alzheimer's pathogenesis has been found, the experts add. In addition, the team identified toxic enzymes called gingipain, which are secreted by the bacteria in the brains of Alzheimer's patients and correlated with two separate markers of the disease: the tau protein and a protein called ubiquitin.

Helps Alzheimer's gum disease?

More convincingly, researchers have identified these toxic proteins in the brain of deceased individuals who have never been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. This is important, because although P. gingivalis and the disease have been linked earlier, it remains unclear whether gum disease causes Alzheimer's or whether the disease results in poor oral hygiene. The fact that even people who have never been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease have low levels of gingipains could suggest that they also developed a condition if they had lived longer. A substance called COR388, which is already being tested in clinical trials in Alzheimer's patients, has been shown in mice to reduce the bacterial load of an established P. gingivalis brain infection while reducing amyloid beta production and neuroinflammation , It remains to be seen what future research will reveal about this link, say the experts.

We need new approaches in the fight against Alzheimer's

Drugs that target the toxic proteins of bacteria have so far only been beneficial in mice. For the development of new dementia treatments over the next 15 years, it is important to test as many approaches as possible to combat diseases such as Alzheimer's, David Reynolds of Alzheimer's Research said in a statement. The final results of this ongoing study have yet to be finalized to assess the potential of Alzheimer's disease treatment, adds the expert. (As)