Biotoxin Pathway IV: The Biotoxin POMC Merry-Go-Round
October 16, 2017References: Nature, Biotoxin Pathway
You've been exposed to a biotoxin. You didn't know it because you didn't even know the building was damaged by water, or the brown discoloration in the bay your were fishing didn't look all that weird, or the fish you ate tasted a little odd but not that awful. We now know that many organisms can set it off: Dinoflagellates: Pfiesteria and ciguatera, fungi like Stachybotrys and Chaetomium, Blue-green algae like Microcystis and Lyngbya, Spirochetes like Borrelia burgdorferi, Apicomplexans from Babesia microti, some gram positive bacteria like Coagulase negative Staph and anthrax, some spider bites like brown recluse spiders - lion fish, etc.
The DNA fragments and protein fragments from "black mold" in water damaged buildings is likely the number one cause in America. How do those toxins wreak their damage? Here's how. The various biotoxins set off your innate immune system. And in the 25-30% of us who are not able to mount an effective antibody response (adaptive immune system) the toxin gets "started" on the first merry-go-round.
As it circulates through the air, (most commonly) you breathe it in through your nose and it soaks up into your taste/smell receptors at the tops of your sinuses, or through your lungs. Because your body cannot "see" it and make an effective antibody to clear it, the biotoxin circulates up to your brain where it gives your POMC system a whack. How exactly does this happen? The biotoxins bind to many toll receptor proteins" that set off cytokines, TGF-beta1 and split products of complement. There are dozens, if not hundreds of cytokines. These cytokines, in turn, being part of the innate immune system, set off MMP-9 in your blood, and in your brain, they block the Leptin Receptor.
This is a critical junction receptor because there are many processes that run through it. Notably, POMC. Pro-Opio-Melano-Cortoin. POMC is the precursor protein that can be chopped into 11 different hormones, depending how it is chopped up. If you can't make POMC, you can't make a lot of things. The O stands for Opio - and there is a down-regulation on pain control. The M stands for Melano and that stands for Melanocyte Stimulating Hormone and the C stands for Cortin, all about energy homeostasis.
Folks affected end of tired, in pain, overweight and "sick". The biotoxin then circulates in your blood and your liver says, "let's dump this junk" and into the bile it goes. In your bile, it proceeds to your gut and your colon, where it happily gets reabsorbed. Back into your blood, up to your brain, back to your toll receptor proteins all over your body, back to your elevated TGF-beta one and MMP-9, back to your blocked leptin receptor. It's like the horror show merry-go-round with the crazy clowns and the monster show. Round and round and round because your immune system can't see it. That's merry-go-round (MGR) one.
MGR two goes as follows. With a damaged alpha MSH secondary to blocked POMC, your immune system becomes even more blinded. A perfectly innocuous bacteria that grows on your skin, called Coagulase Negative Staph (I can grow it off anyone's skin, anywhere) can invade into your nose and take up residence. Curiously, it seems to pick up antibiotic resistance from who knows where. We call it MARCONs: multiple antibiotic resistant Coag Negative Staph. It secretes two proteins, called A and B, which cleave MSH, further reducing MSH. With low MSH, MARCONs can keep hanging out in the "biofilm" in your nose. That's MGR number two. The biofilm in your nose is a good hiding place for it to persist. You can’t clear it on your own. So it perpetuates itself. MGR #2.
Round and round. Two merry-go-rounds that are both self perpetuating, and never-ending. I mean, years. The biotoxin can circulate endlessly, and the MARCONs can persist endlessly. Many folks continue to be exposed to the biotoxin, reinforcing the merry-go-round by juicing it up. They symptoms are odd enough and strange enough, and delayed enough, that the association with the source isn't immediately clear. So on, and on it goes. And where it stops...nobody knows. Well, you now know. We can stop this continuous cycle. That's coming next week.
WWW:What will work for me. I've seen people sick for 10 years who come in having seen 10 doctors. So these merry-go-rounds are nuclear powered. They can go forever if not interrupted. And the level of their disruption is a real wake up call. I want you to know the steps it takes to clear them. But the first step is a clear, visual image in your brain of the two merry-go-rounds. Next week, we start dismantling them and pulling off the horses, one by one.
Pop Quiz
- Biotoxins can come from many sources but the most common, as best we know come from...? Answer: Water damaged buildings and mold..
- Biotoxins attach to what in many cells all over your body? Answer: Toll receptor protein.
- The net effect of biotoxin invasion is to set off all sorts of what signaling? Answer: Cytokine activation. Possibly dozens or more different ones. So far we can measure MMP-9 and TGF-Beta1 but there are likely many more.
- What is Merry-go-round #1. Answer: the endless circulation of toxin through your blood, into your brain, out by the bile into your gut and back into your blood via your small bowel and colon. Back to your brain. And again and again.
- And what allows MGR2 to get started? Answer: Low MSH that allows the invasion of MARCONS into your nose. MARCONS makes two proteins from its hiding place in biofilms in your nose. Those two proteins cleave MSH, leading to continued suppression of your immune system and further lowering of MSH. Round and round and round. That's MGR2.