Investigating Gut-Immune Interactions in Parkinson’s Disease

Summary

It is now well established that both gastrointestinal dysfunction and immune activation occur in early Parkinson’s disease, and emerging evidence indicates that these processes are linked to faster disease progression.

Despite recent scientific focus on the gut-immune-brain axis, the mechanisms of gut-immune interaction in PD, and whether these play a critical role in driving neurodegeneration, remain unclear. This is a critical question to address given that gastrointestinal and immune systems are tractable targets for disease-modifying therapy.

The Williams-Gray lab investigates gut dysfunction and  inflammation in Parkinson’s disease through clinical assessments, imaging studies, analysis of blood, cerebrospinal fluid and faecal samples. 

Project aims

This project will study cases with prodromal symptoms who are at high risk of developing Parkinson’s in order to determine whether gut dysfunction and immune activation precede and predict disease onset. Studies will involve determining how gastrointestinal dysfunction is linked to longitudinal clinical measures and outcomes, investigating the impact of dietary patterns on clinical features and disease progression, and measuring gut and immune markers and dysregulation in patient-derived biological samples.

The impact of gut microbial composition and metabolites and their relevance to Parkinson’s progression will also be explored. Ultimate aims of the project will be to identify the most critical gut-immune pathways for therapeutic targeting in Parkinson’s, as well as to identify gut biomarkers which will allow for patient selection for future clinical trials.  

Contact details

Dr Caroline Williams-Gray (chm27@medschl.cam.ac.uk) – Neurology  

Opportunities

This opportunity is open to PhD applicants.