The Cause of Alzheimer's Could Be Coming From Inside Your Mouth

A growing number of studies have shown that Alzheimer's disease is more than just a disease.

Many studies suggest the spread of Alzheimer's goes far beyond what we used to think.

According to a study published in 2019, one of the most definitive leads for a cause of Alzheimer's is gum disease.

In a paper led by senior author Jan Potempa, a microbiologist from the University of Louisville, the pathogen behind chronic periodontitis was found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.

There are gingipains in the brain of a person with Alzheimer's. It's calledCortexyme

The two factors have been linked before but the researchers went further.

In two separate experiments with mice, oral infections with the pathogen led to brain colonization by thebacteria and increased production of the Alzheimer's-causing A.

The research team didn't claim to have found definitive evidence of Alzheimer's cause.

They believed we had a strong line of investigation here.

In the past, infectious agents have been implicated in the development and progression of Alzheimer's disease.

For the first time, we have evidence linking the Gram-negative pathogen, P. gingivalis, and Alzheimer's disease.

The gingipains were found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients and correlated with two markers of the disease.

The toxic gingipains were found in the brains of people who were never diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

It's important because P. gingivalis and the disease have been linked before, but it's never been known if it causes Alzheimers or poor oral care.

If low levels of gingipains were present in people who were never diagnosed with Alzheimer's, it could be a sign that they had the condition if they had lived longer.

Our identification of gingipain in the brains of individuals with AD and also with AD pathology but no diagnosis of dementia argues that brain infection with P. gingivalis is not a result of poor dental care following the onset of dementia.

Experiments with mice show that a compound formulated by the company called COR388 can reduce the load of P. gingivalis brain infections.

The research community is cautiously optimistic that future research will uncover the link.

With no new dementia treatments in over 15 years, it's important that we test as many approaches as possible to tackle the disease.

The findings were reported in a journal.

The story was first published in January.