Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #polymicrobial
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Thanks to everyone who alerted me abt this study! 👉 Oral #pathogen p. gingivalis + the toxic enzymes (gingipains) it creates...were identified in the #Alzheimer’s brain☝️P. gingivitis was also found in the #spinal fluid of living people with Alzheimer’s
Cortexyme (the company doing the #Alzheimer’s trial) also developed molecules that block p. gingivalis gingipains 👉 Giving these molecules to mice reduced their #infections, halted #amyloid production + lowered brain inflammation ☝️(Very cool new #treatment possibility!)
One thing: As interesting as the findings are, I suspect p. gingivalis is just one of several #microorganisms that may “work together” to drive #Alzheimer’s pathology 👉 (In other words I still think infection in Alzheimer’s is #polymicrobial)
Why is the future of chronic #inflammatory disease #polymicrobial (organisms interacting)? 👉 This paper describes how even in #Lyme Neuroborreliosis, different strains of Borrelia often persist in a #biofilm, or community-based form: frontiersin.org/articles/10.33… 
The ability of Borrelia to form into #biofilm communities may 👉 “explain the low rate of Borrelia detection in the #blood of infected #patients as well as the ability of the #spirochetes to evade the host immune system and resist the antibiotic therapy”: frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…
Here are two images 👉 On the left, a #Borrelia biofilm as seen under a #microscope☝️On the right, a diagram showing how chronic, persister forms of Borrelia can survive inside a #biofilm: where they are better protected from the host immune response: frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…
