Project description:For the clinical treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), it is important not only to improve the airflow limitation by bronchodilation but also to suppress emphysema by controlling inflammation. In this study, we have screened for compounds that prevent elastase-induced airspace enlargement in mice from medicines already used clinically. Mepenzolate bromide, a muscarinic antagonist used to treat gastrointestinal disorders was selected. Intratracheal administration or inhalation of mepenzolate bromide decreased the severity of elastase-induced airspace enlargement, alteration of lung mechanics and respiratory dysfunction. While mepenzolate bromide showed bronchodilatory activity, most of other muscarinic antagonists tested did not improve the elastase-induced pulmonary disorders. Mepenzolate bromide suppressed elastase-induced pulmonary inflammatory responses and production of superoxide anions, and reduced the level of cigarette smoke-induced airspace enlargement and alteration of lung mechanics. Based on these results, we propose that this drug is therapeutically effective for COPD as a consequence of both its anti-inflammatory and bronchodilatory activities.
Project description:Metformin is the therapy of choice for treating type 2 diabetes and is currently repurposed for a wide range of diseases including aging. Recent evidence implicates the gut microbiota as a site of metformin action. Combining two tractable genetic models, the bacterium E. coli and the nematode C. elegans, we performed C. elegans RNAseq to investigate the role of the metformin sensitive OP50 and metformin resistant OP50-MR E. coli microbiota in the drug effects on the host. Our data suggest an evolutionarily conserved bacterial mediation of metformin effects on host lipid metabolism and lifespan.
Project description:For the clinical treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), it is important not only to improve the airflow limitation by bronchodilation but also to suppress emphysema by controlling inflammation. In this study, we have screened for compounds that prevent elastase-induced airspace enlargement in mice from medicines already used clinically. Mepenzolate bromide, a muscarinic antagonist used to treat gastrointestinal disorders was selected. Intratracheal administration or inhalation of mepenzolate bromide decreased the severity of elastase-induced airspace enlargement, alteration of lung mechanics and respiratory dysfunction. While mepenzolate bromide showed bronchodilatory activity, most of other muscarinic antagonists tested did not improve the elastase-induced pulmonary disorders. Mepenzolate bromide suppressed elastase-induced pulmonary inflammatory responses and production of superoxide anions, and reduced the level of cigarette smoke-induced airspace enlargement and alteration of lung mechanics. Based on these results, we propose that this drug is therapeutically effective for COPD as a consequence of both its anti-inflammatory and bronchodilatory activities. In order to understand the mechanism governing mepenzolate-dependent decrease in inflammatory responses and oxidative stress, we performed DNA microarray analysis at the lung of mepenzolate-administered (or control) mice. We then analyzed gene sets that were differently expressed at 25 hours after administration of mepenzolate using Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA).
Project description:Population-based epidemiologic studies can provide important insight regarding the role of the microbiome in human health and disease. Buccal cells samples using commercial mouthwash have been obtained in large prospective cohorts for the purpose of studying human genomic DNA. We aimed to better understand if these mouthwash samples are also a valid resource for the study of the oral microbiome. We collected one saliva sample and one Scope mouthwash sample from 10 healthy subjects. Bacterial 16S rRNA genes from both types of samples were amplified, sequenced, and assigned to bacterial taxa. We comprehensively compared these paired samples for bacterial community composition and individual taxonomic abundance. We found that mouthwash samples yielded similar amount of bacterial DNA as saliva samples (p from Student's t-test for paired samples = 0.92). Additionally, the paired samples had similar within sample diversity (p from = 0.33 for richness, and p = 0.51 for Shannon index), and clustered as pairs for diversity when analyzed by unsupervised hierarchical cluster analysis. No significant difference was found in the paired samples with respect to the taxonomic abundance of major bacterial phyla, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Fusobacteria, and Actinobacteria (FDR adjusted q values from Wilcoxin signed-rank test = 0.15, 0.15, 0.87, 1.00 and 0.15, respectively), and all identified genera, including genus Streptococcus (q = 0.21), Prevotella (q = 0.25), Neisseria (q = 0.37), Veillonella (q = 0.73), Fusobacterium (q = 0.19), and Porphyromonas (q = 0.60). These results show that mouthwash samples perform similarly to saliva samples for analysis of the oral microbiome. Mouthwash samples collected originally for analysis of human DNA are also a resource suitable for human microbiome research.
Project description:The trillions of microorganisms in the human gastrointestinal tract are an underexplored aspect of pharmacology. Despite numerous examples of microbial effects on drug efficacy and toxicity, there is often an incomplete understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Here, we dissect the inactivation of the commonly prescribed cardiac glycoside, digoxin, by Eggerthella lenta. Whole genome transcriptional profiling, comparative genomics, and culture-based assays revealed a cytochrome-encoding operon up-regulated by digoxin, absent in non-metabolizing E. lenta strains, and predictive of the efficiency of digoxin inactivation by the human gut microbiome. Digoxin inactivation was further enhanced by microbial interactions and inhibited by arginine. Pharmacokinetic studies using gnotobiotic mice revealed that increasing dietary protein reduces the in vivo metabolism of digoxin by E. lenta, with significant changes to drug concentration in the urine and serum. These results emphasize the importance of viewing pharmacology from the perspective of both our human and microbial genomes. RNA-Seq analysis of Eggerthella lenta cultured with or without digoxin.
Project description:The majority of people in the U.S. manage health through at least one prescription drug. Drugs classified as non-antibiotics can adversely affect the gut microbiome and disrupt intestinal homeostasis. Here, we identified medications associated with an increased risk of GI infections across a population cohort of more than 1 million individuals monitored over 15 years. Notably, the cardiac glycoside digoxin and other drugs identified in this epidemiological study are sufficient to alter microbiome composition and risk of Salmonella enterica subsp. Typhimurium (S. Tm) infection in mice. The impact of digoxin treatment on S. Tm infection is transmissible via the microbiome, and characterization of this interaction highlights a digoxin-responsive b-defensin that alters microbiome composition and consequent immune surveillance of the invading pathogen. Combining epidemiological and experimental approaches thus provides an opportunity to uncover drug-host-microbiome-pathogen interactions that increase infection risk in human populations.