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By Nancy Lapid, Health Science Editor

Hello Health Rounds readers! Probiotics have been touted as having all kinds of intestinal benefits. Today we look at a study that shows the widely used supplements may also complement the effects of antidepressant medications. A pair of Danish studies highlights the risk of developing type 2 diabetes earlier and more severely for those who had low birthweight. And we feature a study in mice of a novel biodegradable implant that could one day help deliver chemotherapy more efficiently to hard-to-treat brain tumors before dissolving. 

In breaking news, see these stories from our Reuters journalists: 12-month U.S. drug overdose deaths top 109,000; U.S. FDA weighs makeup of next COVID vaccine; Pfizer expects to run out of some pediatric antibiotics soon; Beijing to cover fertility treatments for couples; and Europe’s city schools, hospitals at risk from extreme heat.

Industry news stories include coverage of Bayer’s Roundup settlement with New York; the Coherus/AbbViie dispute over Humira biosimilar; an enrollment halt in Mersana’s cancer drug studies; Aldeyra Therapeutics’ eye treatment study; Sarissa’s goal of seats at Alkermes; and a pause in cancer drug study by 2SeventyBio partner.

Low birthweight is as important as a family history in predicting risk for type 2 diabetes, two studies suggest. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

People taking medication for depression may have greater relief if they also take a probiotic supplement, a small trial suggests.

Probiotics are live microorganisms taken to improve or restore populations of beneficial microbes in the intestines, also known as the gut microbiome. In addition to other impacts on health, the condition of the gut microbiome has been linked with brain chemistry and mood.

Researchers at King’s College London randomly assigned 49 patients with major depressive disorder not relieved by antidepressants alone to take either a commercially available probiotic capsule four times a day, or a placebo. All patients in the eight-week study continued taking their prescribed antidepressants.

The capsule, Bio-Kult Advanced from study co-sponsor ADM Protexin, contained 14 probiotic strains that had shown antidepressant effects in previous studies, according to a report published on Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry.

Both groups initially showed improvement. But starting at week four, there was greater improvement in the probiotic group as documented on commonly used rating scales for depression and anxiety, the researchers said.

“Non- or partial response to antidepressants is a huge problem and this study is an important first step in exploring the therapeutic potential of probiotics as a treatment for depression,” senior researcher Dr. James Stone, now at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School in the UK, said in a statement.

Low birthweight is an important risk factor for type 2 diabetes, contributing to development of the disease at a younger age and the need for more and stronger medications, according to two Danish studies.

Birthweight should be considered when screening for type 2 diabetes with the same importance as that of a family history of diabetes, researchers said.

In one study, researchers tracked 4,590 adults for an average of nearly 20 years, including 492 who developed type 2 diabetes, in which the pancreas decreases its production of insulin and cells in the body become less responsive to it.

People who weighed less at birth were at higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes, the researchers said. Conversely, every extra kilogram (2.2 pounds) of birthweight was linked to a 40% decrease in risk, they found.

The second study looked at birthweights of 6,866 people with type 2 diabetes. Each kilogram of weight at birth below at least 3.0 kg (6.6 pounds) was associated with onset of diabetes 3.3 years earlier. 

In addition, people with low birthweight who developed type 2 diabetes did so at a lower adult body weight, on average, and with a smaller waist circumference, compared to those who developed the disease after being born at a higher weight.

A birthweight of less than 3 kg was also associated with a higher number of other medical conditions including severe high blood pressure.

“Low birthweight is a strong and non-genetic risk factor not only of developing type 2 diabetes (but also) for the development of a relatively more severe subtype of type 2 diabetes, with earlier disease onset, more complications, and co-morbidities,” the researchers said in a statement.

Both studies were published on Monday in Diabetologica by researchers at the Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen in Herlev, Denmark.

An experimental biodegradable device can be inserted into the brain to improve delivery of chemotherapy to brain tumors before dissolving once it’s no longer needed, studies in mice suggest.

Brain cancers are particularly resistant to chemotherapy because the drugs’ large molecules are unable to pass through the lining of the blood vessels.

Ultrasound is sometimes used to slightly shake up the cells lining the vessels, creating spaces large enough to allow the medicine to pass through. But delivering powerful doses of ultrasound through the skull is difficult, can damage tissues, and is rarely done more than once during a patient’s many months of treatment, researchers explained in a report published on Wednesday in Science Advances.

“We can avoid all of that by using an implanted device,” study leader Thanh Nguyen of the University of Connecticut said in a statement. “We can repeatedly use it, allowing chemo to penetrate the brain and kill off tumor cells.”

To construct their device, his team invented a “smart material” of amino acid glycine nanofibers that can convert mechanical force from the body’s motion into electricity in place of batteries.

When the researchers tested the device in mice with brain cancer, they found the tumors shrank and the treatment doubled their survival compared to mice who received no treatment or who received chemotherapy without ultrasound.

The novel device, which will next be tested in large animals, could one day be an alternative to a currently available implantable ultrasound device made of ceramic materials that must be surgically removed after treatment.

Looking ahead, they said, their flexible nanofibers could be used for other purposes as well, helping to “avoid risky and invasive removal surgeries as required for common implanted devices and thus offer a substantial impact on medicine.”

This newsletter was edited by Bill Berkrot.

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