Biocrates Life Sciences AG. (7/25/18). "Press Release: AAIC Researchers Report New Data on How Gut Bacteria and Lipid Metabolism May Influence Alzheimer’s and Other Brain Diseases". Innsbruck.

	Region	Chicago, IL
	Country	United States (USA)
	Organisation	Biocrates Life Sciences AG
	Group	Biocrates (Group)
	Organisation 2	Alzheimer’s Disease Metabolomics Consortium’s (ADMC)
	Product	metabolomics
	Product 2	microbiomics
	Person	Fischer-Knuppertz, Wulf (CellTool 202001– CEO before Biocrates 201306–201909 + Fisher Scientific + Roche Diagnostics)

BIOCRATES’ Technology Enables Research of Host Microbiome Interactions to Investigate Neurodegenerative Diseases

BIOCRATES Life Sciences AG, a global leader in targeted metabolomics, reported today the Alzheimer’s Disease Metabolomics Consortium’s (ADMC) new breakthrough in Alzheimer’s research, which connects the Gut-Liver-Brain axis in the development and progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). During the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC), Chicago, USA, researchers reported new data on how gut bacteria and lipid metabolism may influence AD.

Alzheimer’s disease is a devastating and progressive neurological disorder that affects more than 60 million people worldwide. Despite major effort by researchers, the pathophysiology of this disease is not yet fully understood. However, this week in Chicago at the AAIC, scientists showed that changes in intestinal bacterial populations or activity is associated with cognitive and brain imaging changes and atrophy in Alzheimer’s disease and that this might apply to other neuropsychiatric diseases.

Utilizing technology developed by BIOCRATES, which enables readouts of the host microbiome interaction, scientists shared their breakthrough findings that liver gut metabolic defects are correlated with cognitive decline in AD. Furthermore, these findings show that liver gut metabolic defects have an influence on the pathological features of AD, including neuroinflammation and amyloid-beta deposition.

The Alzheimer Disease Metabolomics Consortium (ADMC) led by Prof. Rima Kaddurah-Daouk based at Duke University Medical Center is an international consortium of renowned academic institutes that includes BIOCRATES. The ADMC was formed as part of the NIA Accelerated Medicine Partnership in Alzheimer Disease (AMP-AD) to investigate pathogenic mechanisms in AD. The consortium is mapping metabolic failures across trajectory of Alzheimer’s disease and the contribution of human metabolism and the intestinal microbiota. Research carried out by Prof. Kaddurah-Daouk of the Duke Medical Center, indicate that the microbiome in our gut seems to play a major role in AD pathogenesis.

“BIOCRATES is excited to be a part of this important study. These findings underscore the importance of metabolism in the pathogenesis of many diseases. Results like these are only possible in large-scale collaborative research approaches, which our technology is perfectly suited to support,” commented Dr. Wulf Fischer-Knuppertz, CEO of BIOCRATES. “BIOCRATES continues to develop technologies for the better and deeper understanding of the host microbiome and its implications in the pathophysiology and progression of diseases such as Alzheimer’s.”

In two separate AD studies with over 1,500 individuals, Prof. Rima Kaddurah-Daouk’s team showed that Alzheimer’s patients had lower levels of liver produced primary bile acids (BA) in their blood, while secondary bile acids, which are bacterially produced and known to be cytotoxic, have been found at higher concentrations. Prof. Kaddurah-Daouk was also the first to show that serum-based primary and secondary BA metabolites correlated with amyloid, tau and neurodegeneration biomarkers for AD: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers, brain atrophy (measured by MRI), and glucose metabolism providing support for a role of BA pathways in AD pathophysiology.

Prof. Kaddurah-Daouk of the Duke Psychiatry and Institute for Brain Sciences added: “The new data suggests that the Gut-Liver-Brain axis seems to play a major role in the development of cognitive and brain atrophy in Alzheimer’s disease. Metabolomics might contribute to an earlier diagnosis of the disease and enable effective treatments based on peripheral influences to brain pathogenesis. This might help to find out whether available drugs might work better when applied early in the disease course.”

AAIC press release (July 24, 2018): Advances Along the Gut-Liver-Brain Axis in Alzheimer’s disease: Why Diet May Be So Impactful [ http://www.alz.org/aaic/releases_2018/AAIC18-Tues-gut-liver-brain-axis.asp ]

About AAIC

The Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) is the world’s largest gathering of researchers from around the world focused on Alzheimer’s and other dementias. As a part of the Alzheimer’s Association’s research program, AAIC serves as a catalyst for generating new knowledge about dementia and fostering a vital, collegial research community.

AAIC 2018 home page: www.alz.org/aaic

AAIC 2018 newsroom: www.alz.org/aaic/press

About Duke University

The Alzheimer Disease Metabolomics Consortium (ADMC), led by Prof. Rima Kaddurah-Daouk at Duke University, is a bold initiative that brings together leaders in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) clinical and basic research to work in close collaboration with centres of excellence in metabolomics, genetics, biochemistry, engineering, and bioinformatics. We aim to define metabolic failures across the trajectory of disease connecting peripheral and central changes. We define alterations in biochemical pathways and networks that can help us gain deeper understanding of disease mechanisms and that can highlight novel targets for drug design. We are a part of the National Institute on Aging’s (NIA) funded national initiatives that includes Accelerated Medicine Partnership for Alzheimer Disease (AMP-AD) and Molecular Mechanisms of Vascular Etiology of Alzheimer Disease (M2OVE-AD). Connecting metabolomics data to genomics, imaging and other rich omics data in a systems biochemical approach we seek to sub-stratify AD stepping towards a precision medicine approach for disease classification and management. The end results of metabolic profiling of large AD cohorts and community studies is leading the way to the creation of a national database for AD and an Atlas that can enable the AD community with a road map for novel drug discovery. All data generated by the consortium is made publicly available. We are partners with other consortia embedded within AMP-AD and M2OVE-AD where different types of large data are being used to inform one another creating an unparalleled opportunity to generate new hypothesis about disease mechanisms.

About ADNI

The Alzheimer’s disease Metabolomics Consortium has partnered with the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) to enable adding rich metabolomics datasets to all subjects enrolled in the ADNI study. These metabolomics datasets are meant to inform about metabolic failures across trajectories of disease and to complement genetic and imaging data within ADNI. In phase 1, we profiled blood samples from ADNI 1/GO/2 baseline using 8 complementary metabolomics and lipidomics targeted and non-targeted platforms. In phase 2, we will be profiling longitudinal samples from all ADNI studies covering over 5,000 samples. ADNI is a landmark public-private partnership that began in 2004 as a longitudinal, naturalistic study of older individuals with either Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or no cognitive impairment at baseline enrolment.

About BIOCRATES Life Sciences AG

Founded in 2002, BIOCRATES Life Sciences AG is a global leader in targeted metabolomics and offers unique solutions for the quantitative and quality-controlled measurement of more than 400 endogenous metabolites in kit format, and more than 800 metabolites as in-house contractual service. BIOCRATES is an Austrian company with corporate headquarters in Innsbruck and a subsidiary in the US. Throughout its growth from an academic spin-off to a global leader in metabolomics, BIOCRATES has been funded by leading financial and strategic investors including MIG Fonds and Bionorica S.E. For more information, please visit us on www.biocrates.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

For further information, please contact:

BIOCRATES Life Sciences AG
Dr. Wulf Fischer-Knuppertz, CEO
T +43 512 57 98 23
E office@biocrates.com

MC Services AG
Dr. Claudia Gutjahr-Löser, Managing Director
T +49 89 210228-0
E claudia.gutjahr@mc-services.eu

Record changed: 2023-06-05