Microsoft word - 2011_neurodegenerative-marshall.doc

NeuroTalk-2011 Dalian, China
Title: The Human Microbiome – a mechanism for Neurodegenerative Disorders

Abstract
For more than 50 years we have known that some infectious agents could cause dramatic personality changes, for example, in diseases such as syphilis, rabies and toxoplasmosis. Autoantibodies to brain proteins have been detected in Schizophrenic, Manic Depressive and Alzheimer’s populations. High levels of inflammatory markers and cytokines appear in patients before, during, and after therapy, strongly suggesting that autoimmune inflammation may well be a driving factor behind these diseases. Additionally, cytokine profiles have allowed differentiation of Bipolar mania and Bipolar depression from healthy controls. Yet the presence of pathogens which might be driving this inflammatory cascade has remained elusive until quite recently. The new science of Metagenomics, even though it is less than five years old, has already clarified a mechanism whereby not just one or two discrete pathogens can drive a disease process, but where a very large number of viral and bacterial species, accumulating in the human body over the course of a lifetime, can progressively lead to failure of the human innate immune system. Homo sapiens is not a sterile compartment but a super-organism harboring thousands of species of microbes in its cells and tissues. Key components of this microbiota persist by reducing expression of, and by, the VDR Nuclear Receptor, which is at the heart of the human innate immune system. Only in Homo sapiens is the VDR responsible for expression of Cathelicidin, TLR2, TACO and a number of other endogenous anti-microbials. Animals have different antimicrobial defenses, and animal models are therefore imperfect systems in which to study chronic disease. Pathogens already known to persist by dysregulating the VDR include EBV, Mycobacteria, Borrelia and HIV. Antimicrobial therapy is difficult, as the diseased VDR cannot be simply restored by Vitamin D metabolites, as it can in healthy individuals. We have shown, albeit in a very small group of Bipolar and Schizophrenic patients, that the drug Olmesartan can be retargeted to function as a VDR agonist, allowing innate immunity to recognize the pathogens, and reverse the disease process. Recovery is slow, and care must be exercised to ensure the resulting cytokine-storm does not become life-threatening. If we are to properly address the Public Health consequences of epidemic Depressive disorders, it is critical that future research takes a much Biography
A Wikipedia biographer described Trevor Marshall as “a balding man with grey hair and beard, wearing a suit, yellow shirt and red tie . he is currently best known for his work in Molecular Biology . [his] treatment for chronic inflammatory diseases . became known as the Marshall Protocol(MP).” But the MP is just Marshall’s latest discovery, PubMed lists papers from the 1980’s documenting his research on curative therapies for Cryptorchidism as well as male and female infertility. He is currently Director of the Autoimmunity Research Foundation in Thousand Oaks, California and an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Murdoch University, in Western Australia. He has won US FDA designations for minocycline and clindamycin in the treatment of sarcoidosis, and is currently steering the new drug product (NDP) “Pure Olmesartan” through the FDA review processes. Trevor has chaired sessions at the recent Asian Autoimmunity Congress and several International Congresses on Autoimmunity. He and his colleagues wrote the chapter on Autoimmune disease in the new textbook “Metagenomics of the Human Body.” Adjunct Professor, Murdoch University of Western Australia. Director, Autoimmunity Research Foundation, California. Email: [email protected]

Source: http://trevormarshall.com/abstracts/2011_Neurodegenerative-Marshall.pdf