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Shared functional microbiome signatures in Parkinson's disease and constipation predominate irritable bowel syndrome despite taxonomic divergence.

Overview

Authors: Emily C. Hoedt1,2,3, Grace L. Burns1,2,3, Kateleen E. Hedley1,2,3, Sophie Waller4,5, Tamara Canento Sanchez4, Olivia Chisolm4, Helen MacCallum4, Susan Richardson1,2,3, Belinda Suthers4, Elizabeth Pepper4, Simon Keely1,2,3, Nicholas J. Talley1,2,3
ORCID iDs: Emily C. Hoedt, Kateleen E. Hedley, Sophie Waller, Simon Keely
  1. College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia
  2. Centre for Research Excellence in Transforming Gut Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia
  3. Immune Health Research Program, Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, NSW, Australia
  4. Neurology Department, John Hunter Hospital, New Lambton Heights, NSW, Australia
  5. Department of Neurological Sciences, Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia
Institutions: Hunter Medical Research Institute (Australia); University of Newcastle Australia (Australia); John Hunter Hospital (Australia); Prince of Wales Hospital (Australia)
Journal: Brain, behavior, & immunity - health, volume 53, article 101218
Dates: received 9 December 2025; accepted 24 March 2026; published online 27 March 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY
Identifiers: DOI 10.1016/j.bbih.2026.101218 · PMID 41993915 · PMCID PMC13081680 · OpenAlex W7141318981
Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Status: data only (how the code is found and verified)
Categories: human (organism), Parkinson's (population)
Methods: Statistics, Connectivity
Keywords: Parkinson's disease, Gastrointestinal microbiome, Immune, Microbiome-gut-brain-axis
Journal subjects: Full Length Article
Topic: Gastrointestinal motility and disorders (Gastroenterology, Medicine), according to OpenAlex
Funding: New South Wales Ministry of Health; The University of Newcastle; National Health and Medical Research Council
Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 63 references in the paper

Abstract

Background: Gastrointestinal dysfunction, including constipation, is a common non-motor feature of Parkinson's disease (PD) and often precedes motor symptoms. The gut microbiome interacts with the host through neural, hormonal, and immune pathways, yet whether constipation represents a cause or consequence of PD remains unclear. Therefore, we aimed to interrogate the associations between microbiome and immune alterations in relation to constipation to provide novel insight into microbiome-gut-brain axis mechanisms in PD.

Methods: We analysed peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) for circulating gut-homing T cell populations and used shotgun metagenomics to profile the stool microbiome composition and functional capacity in PD patients (n = 18), healthy controls (n = 21), and individuals with constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-C; n = 8). Associations between immune markers and microbial taxa were assessed, and functional pathway differences were evaluated.

Results: Circulating gut-homing T cell frequencies did not differ significantly between PD and controls, but constipated PD patients showed a trend toward increased circulating gut-homing T cells. Microbiome beta-diversity analyses revealed distinct taxonomic shifts in PD and IBS-C, while functional capacity was largely conserved. Of the differential functional pathways tryptophan biosynthesis, polyamine production, and vitamin B metabolism, processes critical for neurotransmitter synthesis, epithelial integrity, and neuroimmune regulation were reduced in PD compared to IBS-C.

Conclusion: Our findings highlight unique microbial and immune signatures in PD, partially overlapping with IBS-C, and underscore the importance of microbial metabolic pathways in gut-brain axis disorders. Collectively our findings suggest a contribution to dopaminergic dysfunction, neuroinflammation, and impaired gut motility. Future longitudinal studies are needed to clarify causal relationships and inform targeted interventions for PD-related gastrointestinal dysfunction.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper links to its data and to no code of its authors: see the Data section.

Tracing map

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Data

Datasets cited

Data availability

Shotgun metagenomic raw sequence data are available and have been deposited under NCBI BioProject accession number PRJNA1363568. NCBI SRA record is accessible with the following link http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA1363568.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 30 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, pages, dates, 12 authors, 4 keywords, 3 funders, 62 references.

Cite

This paper

Hoedt, E. C., Burns, G. L., Hedley, K. E., Waller, S., Sanchez, T. C., Chisolm, O., MacCallum, H., Richardson, S., Suthers, B., Pepper, E., Keely, S., & Talley, N. J. (2026). Shared functional microbiome signatures in Parkinson's disease and constipation predominate irritable bowel syndrome despite taxonomic divergence. Brain, behavior, & immunity - health, 53, 101218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2026.101218

BibTeX

@article{hoedt2026shared,
author = {Hoedt, Emily C. and Burns, Grace L. and Hedley, Kateleen E. and Waller, Sophie and Sanchez, Tamara Canento and Chisolm, Olivia and MacCallum, Helen and Richardson, Susan and Suthers, Belinda and Pepper, Elizabeth and Keely, Simon and Talley, Nicholas J.},
title = {{Shared functional microbiome signatures in Parkinson's disease and constipation predominate irritable bowel syndrome despite taxonomic divergence}},
journal = {Brain, behavior, \& immunity - health},
year = {2026},
month = mar,
volume = {53},
pages = {101218},
publisher = {Elsevier},
issn = {2666-3546},
doi = {10.1016/j.bbih.2026.101218},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2026.101218},
pmid = {41993915},
pmcid = {PMC13081680}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Hoedt, Emily C.
AU - Burns, Grace L.
AU - Hedley, Kateleen E.
AU - Waller, Sophie
AU - Sanchez, Tamara Canento
AU - Chisolm, Olivia
AU - MacCallum, Helen
AU - Richardson, Susan
AU - Suthers, Belinda
AU - Pepper, Elizabeth
AU - Keely, Simon
AU - Talley, Nicholas J.
TI - Shared functional microbiome signatures in Parkinson's disease and constipation predominate irritable bowel syndrome despite taxonomic divergence
T2 - Brain, behavior, & immunity - health
J2 - Brain Behav Immun Health
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/03/27
VL - 53
SP - 101218
SN - 2666-3546
PB - Elsevier
DO - 10.1016/j.bbih.2026.101218
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2026.101218
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

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