The last few months have been particularly rich in terms of scientific publications related to the concept of microbiome and its influence on people’s general health. Let’s take just two case studies related to the microorganisms that live inside the human body as a whole, and with the microbiotawhich are also bacteria, viruses, fungi, that swarm in a particular environment of the body, such as the intestine, skin, vagina.
A meta-analysis that appeared in the specialized magazine Nature Metabolism Just two weeks ago it was clear: “The composition and function of the intestinal microbiota are strongly influenced by dietary factors to alter gut-brain signaling – explain the authors of this research review. To reflect this interconnection between diet, gut microbiota and brain function, we propose that there is a diet-microbiota-gut-brain axis that supports health and well-being.” And they emphasize: “The important effects induced by diet on the intestinal microbiota for the development, prevention and maintenance of neuropsychiatric disorders are described.”
On the other hand, on September 6, researchers from different institutions in the United Kingdom published in Nature Microbiology their findings: the assembly of the human microbiota starts at birthseeded by both maternal and environmental microorganisms. By analyzing the fecal genome of 1,288 neonates, the scientists were able to verify that “the pioneer neonatal intestinal microbiota can be stratified into one of three different community states, each dominated by a single microbial species and influenced by clinical and host factors, such as maternal age, “ethnicity and parity.” These differences will influence babies in terms of their immunity and resistance to certain pathogens.
Just two examples: increasingly the concept that human beings are ourselves and the cells and genes of the other beings that inhabit us. “When in 2005 it ends the genome projectstudies show that when trying to sequence a human being, scientists found an enormous amount of DNA of microbial origin that was not contamination, was not pathogenic and was in quantity much higher than that of human beings. This is where the concept of holobiontthat is, the community that we form with cells of human origin and cells of commensal microorganisms “that provide us with enzymatic machinery capable of helping us, among other things, to control blood pressure, to digest enzymes, to synthesize vitamins,” he explains. Gabriela GutierrezPhD in Medical Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) with more than 20 years of experience in reproductive immunology.
Argentine biotechnology
As a researcher at CONICET, Gutiérrez (along with other colleagues who were doing their doctorate) founded in 2020 in Argentina a biotech startup who created a treatment based on the analysis of certain markers of the microbiota to treat difficulties in achieving pregnancy. The scientists identified how the presence or absence of these markers can be related to infertility and published their work in the specialized journal American of Reproductive Immunology. In their study, they detected that patients with infertility showed a lower bacterial richness than those who were part of the control group and had no problems conceiving.
“Unlike other cases, we formed the company from a clinical study that was later replicated with other women in other parts of the world. Instead of looking at the impact of microorganisms that disappear or others that overgrow in response to those that disappear, we look at overall health as genomic mapping. That is, compare my genomic map of the microbiota with a genomic map of a control group to see if I have a pattern of microorganisms that disappear or are deficient, or others that are in excess compared to that control group. We use these changes to understand the impact of lifestyle and environment on our health“explains Gutiérrez, currently CEO of Microgenesis, which has a presence in the Argentinain Spain and in the USA.
“It is very difficult to find a standard microbiota as a control group because no two microbiotas are the same. The microbiota is a fingerprint -details to NEWS-. In fact, there is a meta-analysis that says that contrary to the belief accepted by the majority of gynecologists and women’s health specialists, the microbiota vaginal (which is the second most studied in the world) does not have the same dominant microorganism in all ethnic groups or in all cities, that is, lactobacilli. In Caucasian women this does happen, but in women of another age (and because it depends on estrogen levels) and other ethnicities such as African-American or Hispanic, lactic acid bacteria are not the ones that dominate and that is also completely normal or at least “It is not associated with any pathology.”
Already in 2016, when the clinical trial with microbiota began, Gutiérrez and colleagues had identified markers of low-grade inflammation in blood and saliva, that is, systemic inflammation that impacted the reproductive outcome of patients undergoing treatment. assisted fertility and cannot get pregnant, or who have difficulty getting pregnant. After study more than 4,000 patients found that they could identify different phenotypes or inflammatory profiles.
“We had the ability to identify different inflammatory profiles according to different lifestyle habits and we had to look for an explanation at the immunological level. And basically everything revolved around nutrition, as well as things like where they came from, where they were residing, how old they were, what body mass index. All these factors added to the metabolites that we studied, which trigger certain inflammatory pathways and that are generated in the intestinal wall in response to the intestinal microbiota in women with difficulty getting pregnant, we were able to associate how nutrition, lifestyle, environment , they accelerate the biological clock and cellular aging and separate what is the chronological age from the biological age of the woman. So two women can be the same age, and yet one can present her reproductive potential with a woman who is older than the other and this has to do with the inflammation or inflammatory tenor that often does not meet disease criteria but whose The first symptom is infertility itself,” summarizes Gabriela Gutiérrez.
The work of Microgenesis was even recognized in the Senate, a chamber that has among its pending projects to deal with a project by Senator Silvina García Larraburu for declare interest the scientific project developed by Gutiérrez and Agustina Aspiroz. “It should be noted that biotechnology is considered an innovative solution to the challenges of globalization and especially benefits developing countries – due to its strong impact on the entire global production chain – creating differentiated growth opportunities for these countries,” mentions the text of the project that is in the Science Commission.
Personalized
Microgenesis treatment has four pillars and it is personalized according to the inflammatory profile to which specialists assign a number that somehow identifies the biological age they detect in each patient. “These four pillars are a nutritional plan that feeds the microorganisms of the intestinal microbiota that are decreased or missing and that help us so that those that are deficient can be supplemented with probiotics, but in the nutritional plan they have to be prebiotics so that these prebiotics can develop and in turn we have to remove components from the diet, especially industrialized or certain foods that will favor the imbalance of the microbiota that each person has,” he describes. Gutierrez.
In total, in the entire cohort of patients studied, which to date number more than 600, three types of intestinal imbalance associated with difficulty getting pregnant were identified that trigger different inflammatory pathways according to age, weight, height and place where they live. That is to say, two women can share the same microbiota imbalance, but while one will be impacted in one way, the consequences will be different for the other. And it is by taking into account and studying these differences that the treatment plan is personalized. There are eight types of nutritional plans that are combined with each other, anti-inflammatory, which at the same time help to recover the microbiota, the defense shield to avoid the impact of the environment on the immune system.
The objective is not to completely repair the microbiota, something that would take years, but to reinforce it with probiotics and food, to control inflammation within a period of between 60 and 90 days. “We would achieve this with nutrition alone, but in a longer term, perhaps between six months and a year, with the supplements that we give, which are amino acids, vitamins, which are given to healthy patients but who have some requirement.” especially, in this case they are supplements that are going to be anti-inflammatory according to the inflammatory pathway that is affected -concludes Gutiérrez-. Example, if you have high cholesterol, risk of developing high cholesterol, omega 3, if you are at risk of developing high insulin, resveratrol, etc. This is how they are combined according to the profile you gave us. And finally, a physical activity plan personalized for each profile, high or low impact, which helps reduce inflammation in two to three months.”
