Parkinson's disease: does it all start with gut inflammation?

Title	Parkinson's disease: does it all start with gut inflammation?
Acronym	PD-GUT
Start date	2021-12-01
End date	2026-11-30
Sponsor	European Research Council - Consolidator Grant (ERC-CoG)
Institution	German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases

Associated cell lines

• MPIi002-A (L1-1Mut, T4)
• MPIi003-A (IM2, L2-2Mut)
• MPIi003-A-1 (IM2GC, L2-2GC)

Project Description

Burgeoning evidence shows that Parkinson's disease (PD) involves the gut before affecting the brain, leading to the fascinating hypothesis that the gut might be the site of disease initiation. An intriguing hypothesis is that PD is a systemic illness that originates from an inflammatory insult in the gut. To dissect inflammatory-related mechanisms, I will combine patient stem cell-derived organoid, organ-on-a-chip, and single-cell sequencing approaches to decode the role of intestinal inflammation in PD and to identify new mediators of immune cell contributions to neurodegeneration. Unveiling the critical steps that initiate PD may lead to a conceptual leap forward in our understanding of how the gut affects the brain in both health and disease.