Negar Fani, PhD, ABPP
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Emory University School of Medicine
Talk Title: Social Stressors and the Gut-brain Axis: Mechanisms of Vulnerability and Intervention for Psychiatric Disorders in Women

One pathway through which social stressors influence brain health is via the gut. Alterations in the collective of gut microorganisms—the gut microbiome—influence stress-response systems through pathways such as microbiome metabolites and immune mediators (the “gut-brain axis”). The microbiome is thought to play a role in the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders via modulation of these systems. As such, the gut microbiome has been identified as an interface between various social/environmental influences, collectively known as the exposome, and neuroplastic alterations that may create vulnerabilities to psychiatric disorder development. The consequences of stress-related microbiome alterations are particularly meaningful for women, as many diseases specific to women, such as breast and ovarian cancer, have been linked to variation in the microbiome. Childbearing women are also especially vulnerable, as facets of the maternal gut microbiome may be transmitted to offspring, with clear long-term generational health influences. Social stressors are linked to brain and other health disparities in minoritized women. Emerging research also shows links between exposure to social stressors and alterations in the gut microbiome. Dr. Fani will discuss the state of this research, describing the gut-brain axis as a pathway of vulnerability for health disparities in minoritized women. She will also discuss potential targets for intervention, elaborating on potential therapeutic alterations with prebiotic, postbiotic, probiotic supplementation or fecal microbiota transplantation.

Saori Furuta, PhD
Associate Professor, Cancer Biology
Case Western Reserve University
Talk Title: Role of the Gut Microbiome in Modulating Mammary Carcinogenesis

It is increasingly evident that the microbiome impacts cancer occurrence. Given that the microbiotas of cancer susceptible individuals are often dysregulated—a condition of dysbiosis, restorations of the healthy microbiome and their products have gained traction as an emerging cancer preventative method. We sought to determine the microbial metabolites that could boost innate immunity and be potentially utilized to prevent breast cancer. We previously reported that supplementing sepiapterin (SEP, the endogenous precursor of tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4)—the cofactor of nitric oxide synthase) effectively prevented tumor occurrence in animals susceptible to HER2+ mammary tumors. We found that SEP reprogrammed the gut microbiota of these mice elevating beneficial species Akkermansia utilized as a probiotic. Lipid extracts of feces from SEP-treated mice strongly promoted the cytotoxicity of natural killer (NK) cells in vitro compared to those from control DMSO-treated mice. NK cells are innate immune cells that act as a first line of defense against cancer. These findings suggest a contribution by the increase in bacterial metabolites that activate NK cells to tumor-preventative effects of SEP and potential therapeutic utilization of these metabolites for a prophylactic treatment of HER2+ mammary tumors.