From: sheriffcoltrane23x@gmail.com   
      
   Autism and Cancer. Microbiome Meets Melanoma.   
   Brain gutBy Teresa Conrick   
      
   Autism and Cancer.  What do they have in common?  Follow the research here as   
   it is significant for both.   
      
   This new study caught my interest:   
      
   Melanoma Meets Microbiome -  December 9, 2015      
      
   Two groundbreaking studies implicate specific bacterial species in regulating   
   gut immunity and response to immunotherapy in physically distant tumors -- an   
   entirely new angle in cancer therapy.  The influence of the microbiome on   
   cancer susceptibility    
   and therapy effectiveness has been shown. Furthermore, commensal organisms   
   have critical roles in tuning immunity at epithelial surfaces, suggesting   
   their potential role in regulating immunotherapy response.   
      
   Sivan and colleagues compared genetically identical mice obtained from two   
   different mouse facilities that had different gut microbiota. Interestingly,   
   these mice reacted differently to syngeneic implanted mouse melanoma tumors,   
   apparently because of    
   differences in the vigor of their anti-tumor T-cell responses. These   
   differences were eliminated by cohousing and could be reversed by  fecal   
   transplantation from the mice with anti-tumor immunity, implicating the gut   
   microbiome. Furthermore, fecal    
   transfer augmented responses to anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy. Following sequencing   
   of the bacteria, they found that Bifidobacterium species were overrepresented   
   in mice with better anti-tumor immunity, and introduction of those species   
   into the other mice    
   produced anti-tumor responses.    
      
   The take home message -     
      
   1- Genes do NOT seem to be the sole avenue of research in all cancers as these   
   mice had identical genes.    
      
   2- It was their MICROBIOME that was the epicenter to cancer DEVELOPMENT.   
      
   3- It was their MICROBIOME that was the epicenter to cancer TREATMENT.   
      
   4- Bifidobacterium were the good guy bacteria that had anti-tumor qualities.   
      
   5- Bifidobacterium placed into other mice produced their ability to fight   
   tumors.   
      
   6- Fecal transplantation enabled anti-tumor T-cell responses.   
      
   It was four years ago that I was investigating Autism and Cancer and also the   
   role of melanin in Autism (and Melanoma).  Now, years later, we can see that   
   it may be the issues of the MICROBIOME that are the connection:   
      
      
   In recent years, scientists have increasingly investigated the link between   
   gut bacteria and cancer.... For this study, the team gave antibiotics to mice   
   that possessed gene mutations known to cause colorectal polyps, which can   
   develop into cancer. The    
   antibiotics were administered to interfere with the gut bacteria of the mice.   
   The researchers found that these mice did not develop polyps, suggesting that   
   gut microbes may be involved in their development ..... Autism is estimated to   
   affect 1 in 68    
   children in the US. While studies have associated environmental factors - such   
   as pollution - and genetics as potential causes of the disorder, researchers   
   are increasingly looking at the role of gut bacteria in its development.         
      
   Interesting to see antibiotics as causing the "role of gut bacteria" to change   
   for the better, preventing polyps.   
      
   Microbiota and host form a complex 'super-organism' in which symbiotic   
   relationships confer benefits to the host in many key aspects of life.   
   However, defects in the regulatory circuits of the host that control bacterial   
   sensing and homeostasis, or    
   alterations of the microbiome, through environmental changes (infection, diet   
   or lifestyle), may disturb this symbiotic relationship and promote disease.   
   Increasing evidence indicates a key role for the bacterial microbiota in   
   carcinogenesis.    
      
   Again, that study shows that it is an environmental change that they point out   
   with cancer development, though many would call it an assault.  Autism has a   
   similar regression.  One environmental culprit, witnessed by too many   
   families, is vaccination .    
   Other research shows environmental mercury to increase risk for Autism   as   
   well as living near land treated with pesticides.   
      
   Recent work at the CII has shown that children with autism and g   
   strointestinal problems have an altered microbiome. This clue provides new   
   insights into gastrointestinal disturbances that develop in children with   
   autism. However, this merely scratches    
   the surface into understanding the complex role that microbes have in the   
   development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We are working to address this   
   challenge by determining how bacteria, fungi and viruses in the microbiome   
   contribute to autism    
   spectrum disorders.   
      
   There is also suggestive evidence that inflammation and abnormal immune   
   responses contribute to autism spectrum disorders. However, no one has yet   
   determined the extent to which they do, or what provokes these responses. We   
   have recently embarked upon a    
   project to determine the frequency of abnormal immune responses in autistic   
   children and their mothers as well as the environmental triggers of those   
   responses.   
      
   Another plausible basis for the increasing prevalence of autism is the   
   presence in the environment of chemicals that are toxic for the developing   
   brain. These chemicals may be produced by industry or even by the metabolism   
   of these agents by microflora    
   in the intestinal tract.     
      
   Again, toxic chemicals are mentioned and yes, they could change the gut   
   microbes which then can make their own toxins, all which then affect the   
   brain.  Much research shows this to be true.    
      
   The implications also further strengthen the argument for including immunology   
   and infectious disease under the umbrella of environmental health.27 Linda   
   Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of the Environmental Health   
   Sciences (NIEHS), says the    
   institute's research is repeatedly uncovering new interactions between the   
   immune system and diseases she says clearly have environmental components,   
   such as autism and breast cancer. "We know there are numerous and complex   
   relationships between the    
   microbiome and our immune system," Birnbaum says.      
      
   Nearly every scientific study performed that has attempted to correlate the   
   microbiome with specific traits or diseases has been successful.  In other   
   words studies are finding that our bacteria (or lack thereof) can be linked to   
   or associated with:    
   obesity, malnutrition, heart disease, diabetes, celiac disease, eczema,   
   asthma, multiple sclerosis, colitis, some cancers, and even autism.   
      
   Even AUTISM......     
      
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)