Researchers at Saskatoon’s VIDO-Intervac are looking into the links between food-borne pathogens like salmonella and disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Dr. Aaron White says in a surprise discovery, they found salmonella biofilms, in animal infections. Biofilms, he explains, protect salmonella and often form on food processing surfaces.
Dr. White says the biofilms require a protein called curli , that has a negative impact on the immune system.
He says curli causes auto-immunity which causes the body to direct anti-bodies against itself, and also leads to inflammatory arthritis .
Dr. White says the curli proteins are a unique type of protein called an amyloid, and shares its shape with proteins found in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and ALS. Curli, he says, might potentially stimulate those disorders.
White explains, researchers will need to confirm this occurs in humans and see if infections like salmonella can cause similar auto-immune reactions.
At that point, White suggests they could look at ways to block or slow these proteins down in the form of a vaccine.
