The discovery, made thanks to an experiment involving hundreds of bank employees in Spain, opens the door to new treatments beyond reducing cholesterol
Atherosclerosis is the main underlying cause of cardiovascular diseases. Its prevention is based on the detection and treatment of traditional cardiovascular risk factors1. However, individuals at risk for early vascular disease often remain unidentified2. Recent research has identified new molecules in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis3, highlighting the need for alternative disease biomarkers and therapeutic targets to improve early diagnosis and therapy efficacy. Here, we observed that imidazole propionate (ImP), produced by microorganisms, is associated with the extent of atherosclerosis in mice and in two independent human cohorts. Furthermore, ImP administration to atherosclerosis-prone mice fed with chow diet was sufficient to induce atherosclerosis without altering the lipid profile, and was linked to activation of both systemic and local innate and adaptive immunity and inflammation. Specifically, we found that ImP caused atherosclerosis through the imidazoline-1 receptor (I1R, also known as nischarin) in myeloid cells. Blocking this ImP–I1R axis inhibited the development of atherosclerosis induced by ImP or high-cholesterol diet in mice. Identification of the strong association of ImP with active atherosclerosis and the contribution of the ImP–I1R axis to disease progression opens new avenues for improving the early diagnosis and personalized therapy of atherosclerosis.
Wow, this is genuinely exciting, they say there is a causal relationship between that bacteria and atherosclerosis.
Sancho stresses that the work has been made possible thanks to the collaboration of thousands of volunteer employees of Banco Santander in Madrid, but also thanks to grants of €1 million from the “la Caixa” Foundation, €150,000 from the European Research Council and €100,000 from the State Research Agency.
If that’s all it took in terms of funding, that’s also pretty impressive too!
Researchers have discovered that gut bacteria produce a molecule that not only induces but also causes atherosclerosis, the accumulation of fat and cholesterol in the arteries that can lead to heart attacks and strokes. This unexpected link between microbes and cardiovascular disease — the leading cause of death in humanity — is a paradigm shift. The work was published Wednesday in the journal Nature, a showcase for the world’s best science.
another microbiome paper:
Open access paper:
Tanshinone regulated gut microbiota and TMAO to improve high-fat diet induced atherosclerosis in APOE−/− mice
Conclusion
Tanshinone has the potential to ameliorate atherosclerosis induced by a high-fat diet by promoting the proliferation of lactobacillus, reducing the abundance of lachnospiraceae, enhancing lipid metabolism, and diminishing the production of TMAO.
Tanshinone does not seem to be readily available but the plant extract Danshen (used in TCM) from which it is derived is available as a supplement Danshen 500mg and often recommended for cancer in TCM. However, Danshen only contains 0.02% to 0.32% of Tanshinone Danshen global quality.