Recently, our primary focus in our Breast Cancer Research lab has been on the effect of antibiotics have on mitochondrial function. We recently published a paper called “Antibiotics Friend or Foe: From Wonder Drug to Causing Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Disrupting Human Microbiome and Promoting Tumorigenesis.” It is published in the International Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2018, 9, 182-186. You can access this journal online for free for anyone who would like to read it. Just click on the link above.
This commentary discusses the effect (often detrimental) of antibiotics and one of our most important intracellular organelles. The misuse of antibiotics can cause damage to mitochondria, and this damage to the mitochondria can ultimately lead to development of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. We decided to write this commentary after reading Dr. Martin Blaser’s book “Missing Microbes: How the Overusage of Antibiotics is Fueling our Modern Plagues.” This is a very good book that explains the importance of maintaining our natural human microbiome for our everyday physiologic function and health.
Dr. Blaser suggests that even though there have been significant advances in diagnosis and treatment of diseases, it seems that people just keep getting sicker and sicker. We now have bacteria that are resistant to some of our strongest antibiotics. There is a “new plague” which includes obesity, childhood asthma, allergies, celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, etc, Could the damage to our microbiome be contributing to these modern plagues?
In the commentary, we describe some of our data from our lab which does show disruption in the normal physiologic function of the mitochondria.
We have more work to be done…..stay tuned!
Sincerely,
Robert Elliott MD,PhD. D.Sc
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