Modifying microbes for clot prevention

Cleveland Clinic researchers have developed inhibitors of bacterial choline trimethylamine-lyase (bacterial cutC), an enzyme found in commensal gut microbes, that could help treat thrombosis by targeting bacterial metabolic activity without killing the microbes.

Previous studies identified a metabolic pathway mediated by the gut microbiome that generates the metabolite trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), which increases platelet responsiveness and the risk of developing diet-induced cardiovascular and renal diseases. In 2015, the Cleveland Clinic researchers used 3,3-dimethyl-1-butanol (DMB), a naturally occurring choline analog, to inhibit upstream TMAO precursor trimethylamine (TMA) and reduce atherosclerotic plaques in animal models of atherosclerosis (see "The Gut of Heart Disease")...