1
|
Kuznetsova V, Tyakht A, Akhmadishina L, Odintsova V, Klimenko N, Kostryukova E, Vakhitova M, Grigoryeva T, Malanin S, Vladimirtsev V, Nikitina R, Volok V, Osakovskiy V, Sivtseva T, Platonov F, Alexeev D, Karganova G. Gut microbiome signature of Viliuisk encephalomyelitis in Yakuts includes an increase in microbes linked to lean body mass and eating behaviour. Orphanet J Rare Dis 2020; 15:327. [PMID: 33218345 PMCID: PMC7678198 DOI: 10.1186/s13023-020-01612-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2020] [Accepted: 11/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Viliuisk encephalomyelitis (VE) is a rare endemic neurodegenerative disease occurring in the Yakut population of Northeastern Siberia. The main clinical features of VE are spasticity, dysarthria, dementia, central paresis and paralysis, and cortical atrophy observed via MRI. Many hypotheses have been proposed regarding its etiology, including infectious agents, genetics, environmental factors, and immunopathology. Each of these hypotheses has been supported to some extent by epidemiological and experimental data. Nevertheless, none of them has been decisively proven. Gut microbiome is one of the factors that might be involved in VE pathogenesis. RESULTS Here we performed a pilot survey of the stool microbiomes of Yakut subjects with VE (n = 6) and without VE (n = 11). 16S rRNA sequencing showed that in comparison with the control group, the Yakuts with VE had increased proportions of Methanobrevibacter and Christensenella, which are reported to be linked to body mass index, metabolism, dietary habits and potentially to neurodegenerative disorders. The identified associations suggest that the microbiome may be involved in VE. Overall, the Yakut microbiome was quite specific in comparison with other populations, such as metropolitan Russians and native inhabitants of the Canadian Arctic. CONCLUSIONS Describing the gut microbiome of indigenous human populations will help to elucidate the impact of dietary and environmental factors on microbial community structure and identify risks linked to the lifestyles of such groups as well as endemic diseases.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Veronika Kuznetsova
- Center for Precision Genome Editing and Genetic Technologies for Biomedicine, Institute of Gene Biology of Russian Academy of Science, Vavilova Str. 34/5, 119334, Moscow, Russian Federation
- Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Kerchenskaya Str. 1A, Moscow, Russian Federation, 117303
| | - Alexander Tyakht
- Center for Precision Genome Editing and Genetic Technologies for Biomedicine, Institute of Gene Biology of Russian Academy of Science, Vavilova Str. 34/5, 119334, Moscow, Russian Federation.
- Atlas Biomed Group - Knomics LLC, Tintagel House, 92 Albert Embankment, Lambeth, London, SE1 7TY, UK.
| | - Lyudmila Akhmadishina
- Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Trubetskaya Str. 8-2, 119991, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Vera Odintsova
- Atlas Biomed Group - Knomics LLC, Tintagel House, 92 Albert Embankment, Lambeth, London, SE1 7TY, UK
| | - Natalia Klimenko
- Center for Precision Genome Editing and Genetic Technologies for Biomedicine, Institute of Gene Biology of Russian Academy of Science, Vavilova Str. 34/5, 119334, Moscow, Russian Federation
- Atlas Biomed Group - Knomics LLC, Tintagel House, 92 Albert Embankment, Lambeth, London, SE1 7TY, UK
| | - Elena Kostryukova
- Federal Research and Clinical Centre of Physical-Chemical Medicine of Federal Medical Biological Agency, Malaya Pirogovskaya Str. 1a, 119435, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Maria Vakhitova
- Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Kerchenskaya Str. 1A, Moscow, Russian Federation, 117303
- Federal Research and Clinical Centre of Physical-Chemical Medicine of Federal Medical Biological Agency, Malaya Pirogovskaya Str. 1a, 119435, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Tatyana Grigoryeva
- Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan Federal University, K. Marx Str. 18, 420012, Kazan, Russian Federation
| | - Sergey Malanin
- Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan Federal University, K. Marx Str. 18, 420012, Kazan, Russian Federation
| | - Vsevolod Vladimirtsev
- Research Center of Medical Institute, M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University, Belinsky Str. 58, 677027, Yakutsk, Russian Federation
| | - Raisa Nikitina
- Research Center of Medical Institute, M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University, Belinsky Str. 58, 677027, Yakutsk, Russian Federation
| | - Viktor Volok
- Chumakov Institute of Poliomyelitis and Viral Encephalitides (FSBSI "Chumakov FSC R&D IBP RAS), prem. 8, k.17, pos. Institut Poliomyelita, poselenie Moskovskiy, 108819, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Vladimir Osakovskiy
- Research Center of Medical Institute, M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University, Belinsky Str. 58, 677027, Yakutsk, Russian Federation
| | - Tatiana Sivtseva
- Research Center of Medical Institute, M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University, Belinsky Str. 58, 677027, Yakutsk, Russian Federation
| | - Fyodor Platonov
- Research Center of Medical Institute, M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University, Belinsky Str. 58, 677027, Yakutsk, Russian Federation
| | - Dmitry Alexeev
- Atlas Biomed Group - Knomics LLC, Tintagel House, 92 Albert Embankment, Lambeth, London, SE1 7TY, UK
- ITMO University, Kronverkskiy pr. 49, 197101, Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation
| | - Galina Karganova
- Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Trubetskaya Str. 8-2, 119991, Moscow, Russian Federation
- Chumakov Institute of Poliomyelitis and Viral Encephalitides (FSBSI "Chumakov FSC R&D IBP RAS), prem. 8, k.17, pos. Institut Poliomyelita, poselenie Moskovskiy, 108819, Moscow, Russian Federation
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Sivtseva TM, Vladimirtsev VA, Nikitina RS, Davidova TK, Popov DA, Osakovsky VL. Intrathecal synthesis of oligoclonal IgG in patients with Viliuisk encephalomyelitis: The relationship between oligoclonal bands and clinical features. J Neurol Sci 2017; 384:84-88. [PMID: 29249384 DOI: 10.1016/j.jns.2017.11.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2017] [Revised: 10/23/2017] [Accepted: 11/21/2017] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Viliuisk encephalomyelitis (VE) is a neurodegenerative disease that afflicts aboriginal people of Yakutia in Siberia with unknown etiology. Oligoclonal IgG bands (OCBs) were discovered in the VE patients (Green et al., 2003). In this study we analysed the association of OCBs with clinical symptoms in 58 VE patients. Positive oligoclonal IgG are associated with a shorter duration of disease (p=0.002), older age of onset (p=0.023) and high frequency of main neurological VE symptoms such as dementia, frontal dysbasia, bulbar disorders, muscle atrophy and centrally caused pelvic disorders. Our results show that the OCBs in VE patients are associated with more severe central nervous system (CNS) damage and may cause secondary complications in the course of the disease.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Raisa S Nikitina
- Institute of Health, North-Eastern Federal University, Yakutsk, Russia
| | | | - Dygyn A Popov
- Department of Radiology, Republican Hospital #2 - Center of Emergency Medicine, Yakutsk, Russia
| | | |
Collapse
|
3
|
Communicating hydrocephalus following eosinophilic meningitis is pathogenic for chronic Viliuisk encephalomyelitis in Northeastern Siberia. PLoS One 2014; 9:e84670. [PMID: 24586232 PMCID: PMC3938403 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0084670] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2013] [Accepted: 11/17/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Viliuisk encephalomyelitis (VE) is an endemic neurological disease in Northeast Siberia and generally considered to be a chronic encephalomyelitis of unknown origin actually spreading in the Sakha (Yakutian) Republic. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPLE FINDINGS In search for the pathophysiology and causative agent of VE, we performed a cross-sectional study on clinical, serological and neuroimaging data on chronic VE patients during two medical expeditions to three villages within the Viliuiski river basin in the Republic of Sakha in 2000 and to the capital Yakutsk in 2006. The severity of the core clinical picture with predominant sensory ataxia, gait apraxia, lower limb spasticity, cognitive impairment and bladder dysfunction correlated with the degree of MRI findings showing enlargement of inner ventricular spaces as in communicating hydrocephalus. Laboratory studies revealed transient eosinophilia during the preceding acute meningitis-like phase, but no ongoing inflammatory process in the CSF. We found immune reactions against Toxocara canis in the majority of chronic VE patients but rarely in controls (P = 0.025; Fisher's exact test). Histological analysis of subacute to subchronic VE brain samples showed eosinophilic infiltrations with no signs of persistent Toxocara canis infection. CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE Our data showed that pressure by the communicating hydrocephalus as a mechanical factor is the major pathogenic mechanism in chronic VE, most likely triggered by eosinophilic meningitis. There are no signs for an ongoing inflammatory process in chronic VE. The past eosinophilic reaction in VE might be caused by Toxocara ssp. infection and might therefore represent the first hint for an initial cause leading to the development of chronic VE. Our data provide a framework for future studies and potential therapeutic interventions for this enigmatic epidemic neurological disease potentially spreading in Sakha Republic.
Collapse
|
4
|
Abstract
BACKGROUND Viliuisk encephalomyelitis is a disorder that starts, in most cases, as an acute meningoencephalitis. Survivors of the acute phase develop a slowly progressing neurologic syndrome characterized by dementia, dysarthria, and spasticity. An epidemic of this disease has been spreading throughout the Yakut Republic of the Russian Federation. Although clinical, neuropathologic, and epidemiologic data suggest infectious etiology, multiple attempts at pathogen isolation have been unsuccessful. METHODS Detailed clinical, pathologic, laboratory, and epidemiologic studies have identified 414 patients with definite Viliuisk encephalomyelitis in 15 of 33 administrative regions of the Yakut Republic between 1940 and 1999. All data are documented in a Registry. RESULTS The average annual Viliuisk encephalomyelitis incidence rate at the height of the epidemic reached 8.8 per 100,000 population and affected predominantly young adults. The initial outbreak occurred in a remote isolated area of the middle reaches of Viliui River; the disease spread to adjacent areas and further in the direction of more densely populated regions. The results suggest that intensified human migration from endemic villages led to the emergence of this disease in new communities. Recent social and demographic changes have presumably contributed to a subsequent decline in disease incidence. CONCLUSIONS Based on the largest known set of diagnostically verified Viliuisk encephalomyelitis cases, we demonstrate how a previously little-known disease that was endemic in a small indigenous population subsequently reached densely populated areas and produced an epidemic involving hundreds of persons.
Collapse
|
6
|
Storch A, Vladimirtsev VA, Tumani H, Wellinghausen N, Haas A, Krivoshapkin VG, Ludolph AC. Viliuisk encephalomyelitis in Northeastern Siberia is not caused by Borrelia burgdorferi infection. Neurol Sci 2008; 29:11-4. [PMID: 18379734 DOI: 10.1007/s10072-008-0852-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2007] [Accepted: 01/29/2008] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Viliuisk encephalomyelitis (VE) is an endemic neurological disease in Northeastern Siberia and generally believed to be a chronic encephalomyelitis of unknown origin. We investigated 17 patients with a clinical diagnosis of VE within the Viliuiski region of Sakha (Yakutian) Republic to explore the core clinical syndrome of chronic VE and subsequently whether VE is caused by Borrelia burgdorferi infection. We found a chronic myelopathy as the core of the syndrome, often following an acute phase with a meningo-radiculo-neuropathy, suggestive of chronic neuroborreliosis. A search for inflammatory parameters in a larger cohort in blood (39 VE patients and 41 controls) and CSF samples (10 VE patients and 7 controls) excluded an ongoing chronic infection, but revealed evidence for an immunological scar or a chronic inflammatory ("autoimmune") response in the CSF. In addition, we detected signs of a previous exposure to Borrelia burgdorferi antigens in a subset of chronic VE patients with positive serological results using ELISA/immunoblot in 54/10% and 22/0% of VE patients and controls, respectively (p values of 0.003/0.034; Fisher's exact test). However, CSF analyses did not show a link between exposure or at least immunological reaction against Borrelia and the risk of suffering from VE. Our data provide the first evidence of the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi or similar pathogens in Northeastern Siberia, but do not support a causative role of these pathogens in the aetiopathogenesis of VE.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Storch
- Department of Neurology, Technical University of Dresden, Fetscherstrasse 74, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
7
|
Vladimirtsev VA, Nikitina RS, Renwick N, Ivanova AA, Danilova AP, Platonov FA, Krivoshapkin VG, McLean CA, Masters CL, Gajdusek DC, Goldfarb LG. Family clustering of Viliuisk encephalomyelitis in traditional and new geographic regions. Emerg Infect Dis 2008; 13:1321-6. [PMID: 18252102 PMCID: PMC2857279 DOI: 10.3201/eid1309.061585] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Transmission occurs through patient contact; human migration from disease-endemic villages leads to disease emergence in new communities. Viliuisk encephalomyelitis is an acute, often fatal, meningoencephalitis that tends to develop into a prolonged chronically progressive panencephalitis. Clinical, neuropathologic, and epidemiologic data argue for an infectious cause, although multiple attempts at pathogen isolation have been unsuccessful. To assess mechanisms of disease transmission and spread, we studied 6 multiplex families. Secondary cases occurred among genetically related and unrelated persons in a setting of prolonged intrahousehold contact with a patient manifesting the disease. Transmission to unrelated persons was documented in a densely populated region around the city of Yakutsk in which Viliuisk encephalomyelitis had not been previously known. Initially identified in a small Yakut-Evenk population on the Viliui River of eastern Siberia, the disease subsequently spread through human contacts to new geographic areas, thus characterizing Viliuisk encephalomyelitis as an emerging infectious disease.
Collapse
|
8
|
Daly P, Drudy D, Chalmers WSK, Baxendale W, Fanning S, Callanan JJ. Greyhound meningoencephalitis: PCR-based detection methods highlight an absence of the most likely primary inducing agents. Vet Microbiol 2006; 118:189-200. [PMID: 16962261 DOI: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2006.07.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2006] [Revised: 07/03/2006] [Accepted: 07/25/2006] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Greyhound meningoencephalitis is currently classified as a breed-associated idiopathic central nervous system inflammatory disorder. The non-suppurative inflammatory response can be distinguished from the other breed-associated disorders based on histopathology and lesion topography, however the nature of the response primarily suggests a viral infection. In the present study PCR and RT-PCR technologies were employed on frozen cerebral tissue from confirmed cases of meningoencephalitis to target specific viruses and protozoa likely to be implicated and to exclude the presence of bacterial 16SrRNA. Secondly, degenerate primers were used to detect viruses of the herpesvirus and flavivirus families. In addition cerebral tissues were probed for West Nile Virus. Viral nucleic acid sequences to Borna disease virus, to louping ill, tick borne encephalitis, West Nile and other flaviviruses were not detected. Canine distemper virus was detected in one animal with 97% homology to strain A75/15. Degenerate PCR for herpesviruses detected viral amplification products in one animal with 90% homology to canine herpesvirus DNA polymerase gene. Protozoal amplification products were only detected in a single dog with pathological confirmation of a combination of lesions of greyhound meningoencephalitis and a protozoal encephalomyelitis. Neospora was confirmed with sequence homology to Austrian strain 1. Bacterial 16SrRNA was not detected. The present study supports previous observations that many of the known microbial causes of canine meningoencephalitis are not involved. Findings could reflect that the causal agent was not specifically targeted for detection, or that the agent is at undetectable levels or has been eliminated from brain tissue. The potential roles of genetics and of molecular mimicry also cannot be discounted.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- P Daly
- Veterinary Pathology, School of Agriculture, Food Science & Veterinary Medicine & The Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
9
|
Green AJE, Sivtseva TM, Danilova AP, Osakovsky VL, Vladimirtsev VA, Zeidler M, Knight RS, Platonov FA, Shatunov A, Alekseev VP, Krivoshapkin VG, Masters CL, Gajdusek DC, Goldfarb LG. Viliuisk encephalomyelitis: intrathecal synthesis of oligoclonal IgG. J Neurol Sci 2003; 212:69-73. [PMID: 12810001 DOI: 10.1016/s0022-510x(03)00107-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Viliuisk encephalomyelitis (VE) is a neurodegenerative disorder expressed as subacute meningo-encephalitis progressing to a more prolonged pan-encephalitic syndrome with a fatal outcome within 1 to 10 years. Some patients survive to a steady state of global dementia and severe spasticity that may last for over 20 years. Multiple micronecrotic foci surrounded by inflammatory infiltrates are observed throughout the cerebral cortex and other gray matter areas. Infectious etiology of VE is strongly suspected, but the causative agent has not been identified. We conducted a search for assays that might be helpful for VE diagnosis and established for the first time that the majority of patients with definite VE show evidence for intrathecal IgG synthesis correlating with the clinical manifestations of the disease. This indicates that the detection of oligoclonal IgG banding in the cerebrospinal fluid is a valuable diagnostic assay for VE. Implications of these findings for a possible etiology of VE are discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alison J E Green
- The National CJD Surveillance Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
10
|
Garruto RM, Little MA, James GD, Brown DE. Natural experimental models: the global search for biomedical paradigms among traditional, modernizing, and modern populations. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1999; 96:10536-43. [PMID: 10468644 PMCID: PMC17924 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.96.18.10536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
During the past four decades, biomedical scientists have slowly begun to recognize the unique opportunities for studying biomedical processes, disease etiology, and mechanisms of pathogenesis in populations with unusual genetic structures, physiological characteristics, focal endemic disease, or special circumstances. Such populations greatly extend our research capabilities and provide a natural laboratory for studying relationships among biobehavioral, genetic, and ecological processes that are involved in the development of disease. The models presented illustrate three different types of natural experiments: those occurring in traditionally living, modernizing, and modern populations. The examples are drawn from current research that involves population mechanisms of adaptation among East African Turkana pastoralists; a search for etiology and mechanisms of pathogenesis of an emerging disease among the Yakut people of Siberia; and psychosocial stress, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease in women working outside the home in New York City and among subpopulations in Hawaii. The models in general, and the examples in specific, represent natural laboratories in which relatively small intrapopulation differences and large interpopulation differences can be used to evaluate health and disease outcomes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- R M Garruto
- Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, State University of New York, P.O. Box 6000, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, USA.
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|