Nature Microbiology<\/a>\u00a0has found that COMT-Is can trigger compositional changes in the gut microbiome that promote the growth of bacteria that break down levodopa before it can reach the brain.<\/p>\n\u201cWe found a counterproductive effect of this drug that\u2019s meant to increase levodopa efficacy,\u201d says lead author Andrew Verdegaal, a postdoctoral associate in the lab of senior author Andrew Goodman, PhD, chair and C.N.H. Long Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis and director of the Microbial Sciences Institute.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we generally think of the liver as the mediator for drug-drug interactions, this interaction occurs instead through the gut microbiome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parkinson\u2019s disease is caused by a decrease in dopamine production. Levodopa is an oral medication that is absorbed and crosses the blood-brain barrier, where it is converted into dopamine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis drug is a way for the body to externally receive dopamine,\u201d says Verdegaal. \u201cBut it has to get into the brain to have an effect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some enzymes in the body can interact with the drug before it reaches the brain and convert it into a different compound that cannot cross the blood-brain barrier. COMT-Is work by blocking these enzymes before they can chemically modify levodopa, boosting the drug\u2019s efficacy.<\/p>\n
In the new study, however, the researchers discovered that COMT-Is have antibacterial properties that alter the microbiome. When COMT-Is kill off susceptible gut bacteria, other bacteria thrive, the researchers found. This includes Enterococcus faecalis, which contains an enzyme that can also metabolize levodopa and prevent it from reaching the brain.<\/p>\n
The findings support previous research indicating that patients with higher levels of E. faecalis in their gut experience reduced benefit from levodopa.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople often require co-prescription of multiple drugs,\u201d says Verdegaal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile Parkinson\u2019s disease is one example, this study suggests that we should look more closely at the role of the microbiome in response to other co-prescribed drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The study also adds to growing evidence that differences in microbiomes can help explain why patients experience different effects from the same drug.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope our research is a stepping stone to understand this in a wider context,\u201d Verdegaal says.<\/p>\n
The research reported in this news article was supported by the National Institutes of Health and Yale University. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.<\/p>\n
Source: Yale<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Share this Article You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license. A new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[103,61,60,436,3262],"class_list":["post-410513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-medications","tag-parkinsons-disease"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}