A multi-omics study of 29 acne patients and 20 controls, with mouse validation, identifies gamma-glutamyl tyrosine (GGTyr) as a gut metabolite that promotes C. acnes growth and worsens acne-like lesions. The human findings are correlational; the causal GGTyr-to-C. acnes link comes from mice.
In a 60-person trial, people with relapsing-remitting MS who added daily probiotic yogurt and a yeast tablet to their usual therapy saw significantly less fatigue, depression and disability than those on standard treatment alone. The study was small and unblinded, and never measured participants' gut bacteria directly.
Tracking 9,419 meals in antibiotic-treated patients, researchers found sugary foods predicted steeper gut bacteria loss and more growth of a risky bacterium, Enterococcus, a link confirmed causally in mice.
A new preprint tracked 25 rectal cancer patients before and after pre-surgery chemo and radiation. In patients whose tumors responded completely, two secondary bile acids fell while a beneficial gut byproduct, butyrate, rose, alongside shifts in immune-related blood genes. The study is small, unreviewed, and has no comparison group of poor responders, but its authors propose a gut bacteria - bile acid - immune chain that may help explain why some rectal tumors respond better to treatment than others.
A new study of 200 adults found that specific gut and mouth bacteria species, along with two fecal metabolites, correlate with scores on a standard psychopathic-personality-traits scale. The link is the first of its kind, small in size, and strictly correlational.
Mice bred to develop peanut allergy are completely missing lysozyme, an antimicrobial gut protein, before they ever encounter a peanut. Children with peanut allergy show a smaller version of the same deficiency in their own gut biopsies, a UNC-led study finds, though the human evidence so far is a small correlation, not proof.
A review in iNew Medicine proposes that high-sugar diets disrupt gut bacteria, barrier, immunity and metabolism through one shared pathway, helping explain the parallel rise of inflammatory bowel disease, food allergy and colorectal cancer, though the human evidence remains observational.
A synbiotic built from a Colombian cheese probiotic reshaped gut bacteria in mice carrying human ASD-linked microbiota, improving sociability and marble-burying behavior after 21 days, but the study was conducted entirely in mice with a small, unbalanced donor pool.
A new mouse study traces how a licorice-derived compound slows colorectal cancer growth: by remodeling gut bacteria to produce more short-chain fatty acids, which in turn shut down a cancer-promoting enzyme called IDO1.
A new mouse study finds that diet can triple survival in a model of Hirschsprung disease, apparently by reshaping gut bacteria and boosting a byproduct called butyrate. Researchers call it the first evidence diet might help prevent the disease's deadliest complication.
