Gut Microbiome in Parkinson's Disease

Описание: One of the goals of Grand Rounds is to be diverse of topic. This semester so far we’ve joined with the Inaugural Scottish Simulation Journal Club; hosted the BMSc prizes; celebrated Black History Month; and heard about voluntary aid work over the world. This week we are privileged to welcome visiting speaker Dr Ai-Huey Tan, associate professor of and consultant neurologist at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.

Dr Tan’s research areas are in Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders, with a doctorate degree in exploring the role of gut infections and gut microbiota in neurodegenerative diseases. Other research scopes include genetics, inflammation and geriatric aspects of parkinsonian disorders, and the characterization of rare/orphan neurological diseases. She is a working group member of the MDS Evidence Based-Medicine Committee for the treatment of motor and non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease as well as for the treatment of Essential Tremor. More recently, she has been appointed as a Section Editor for the Parkinsonism and Related Disorders Journal.

Her talk this week at Grand Rounds is entitled: Gut Microbiome in Parkinson’s Disease: From Scientific Knowledge to Clinical Insights

Evidence for a close bidirectional link between the brain and the gut has led to a paradigm shift in neurology, especially in the case of Parkinson disease (PD), in which gastrointestinal dysfunction is a prominent feature. Over the past decade, numerous high-quality preclinical and clinical publications have shed light on the role of gut microbiome in PD pathophysiology and drug metabolism. Excitingly, various microbial-directed therapies such as diet, antibiotics, supplementation of probiotics, as well as fecal microbiota transplantation hold promise as potential symptomatic treatment or disease-modifying strategies for PD. This lecture will summarize the fast-growing literature on gut microbiome in PD and present clinical perspectives on its potentials as biomarkers and therapeutic targets in PD.