Novel Anti-Inflammatory Molecule Isolated from Soil-Dwelling Bacterium

About three decades after scientists coined the term ‘hygiene hypothesis’ to suggest that increased exposure to microorganisms could benefit health, an international team of biologists from the United States, the United Kingdom and Hungary has identified an anti-inflammatory lipid in the soil-dwelling bacterium Mycobacterium vaccae that may be responsible.

Mycobacterium vaccae. Image credit: Christopher Lowry, University of Colorado, Boulder.

Mycobacterium vaccae. Image credit: Christopher Lowry, University of Colorado, Boulder.

Professor David Strachan from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine first proposed the hygiene hypothesis in 1989, suggesting that in our modern, sterile world, lack of exposure to microorganisms in childhood was leading to impaired immune systems and higher rates of allergies and asthma.

Researchers have since refined that theory, suggesting that it is not lack of exposure to disease-causing germs at play, but rather to ‘old friends’ — beneficial microbes in soil and the environment that we have long lived alongside — and that mental health is also impacted.

“The idea is that as humans have moved away from farms and an agricultural or hunter-gatherer existence into cities, we have lost contact with organisms that served to regulate our immune system and suppress inappropriate inflammation,” said Professor Christopher Lowry, from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the inVIVO Planetary Health of the Worldwide Universities Network.

“That has put us at higher risk for inflammatory disease and stress-related psychiatric disorders.”

In the study, Professor Lowry and colleagues identified, isolated and chemically synthesized a novel lipid called 10(Z)-hexadecenoic acid found in Mycobacterium vaccae.

The scientists also used next-generation sequencing techniques to study how this molecule interacted with macrophages, or immune cells, when the cells were stimulated.

They discovered that inside cells, the lipid acted like a key in a lock, binding to a specific receptor, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor, and inhibiting a host of key pathways which drive inflammation.

They also found that when cells were pre-treated with the lipid they were more resistant to inflammation when stimulated.

“It seems that these bacteria we co-evolved with have a trick up their sleeve,” Professor Lowry said.

“When they get taken up by immune cells, they release these lipids that bind to this receptor and shut off the inflammatory cascade.”

The researchers have long envisioned developing a ‘stress vaccine’ from Mycobacterium vaccae, which could be given to first responders, soldiers and others in high-stress jobs to help them fend off the psychological damage of stress.

“This is a huge step forward for us because it identifies an active component of the bacteria and the receptor for this active component in the host,” Professor Lowry said.

The results were published in the journal Psychopharmacology.

_____

D.G. Smith et al. Identification and characterization of a novel anti-inflammatory lipid isolated from Mycobacterium vaccae, a soil-derived bacterium with immunoregulatory and stress resilience properties. Psychopharmacology, published online May 22, 2019; doi: 10.1007/s00213-019-05253-9

About Skype

Check Also

, Google Bard AI With a Google Search, #Bizwhiznetwork.com Innovation ΛI

Google Bard AI With a Google Search

Google wasted no time releasing its Bard AI chatbot in early 2023 following the reveal …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Bizwhiznetwork Consultation