REVIEW article
Front. Aging Neurosci.
Sec. Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias
THE PATHOBIOME-NEURODEGENERATION AXIS: TROPICAL INFECTIOUS AGENTS, GUT MICROBIOME PERTURBATIONS, AND ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE PATHOGENESIS
Provisionally accepted
Edward Jenner Tettevi1*
David Larbi Simpong2
Frank Adu-Nti1
Lawrencia Osae-Nyarko1
Mike Yaw Osei-Atweneboana1- 1Water Research Institute, Biomedical and Public Health Research Unit, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Accra, Ghana
- 2Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, College of Health and Allied Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
ABSTRACT Alzheimer's disease (AD) research has largely focused on amyloid plaques, but therapeutic failures suggest need for new approaches. This review proposes the "Pathobiome-Neurodegeneration Axis" - a systems model positioning AD as a multifactorial disorder driven by chronic interactions between tropical infectious agents, gut microbiota, host immunity, and environmental factors. Drawing from tropical epidemiological data, the model integrates pathogen-microbiome, microbiome-brain, and pathogen-brain axes, explaining how polymicrobial exposures create long-term neuroinflammation. Key concepts include "Pathobiome Load," "Metabotypes," and the "Virome Perturbation Hypothesis," showing how synergistic infections affect amyloid pathology, blood-brain barrier function, and microglial activity. The framework emphasizes region-specific diagnostics: multiplexed pathogen testing, microbiome analysis, and smartphone cognitive assessments. This perspective reframes AD within tropical ecological contexts while identifying therapeutic targets and prevention strategies. By integrating infectious disease ecology with neurodegeneration science, it offers a globally relevant, testable model for addressing rising dementia burden.
Keywords: pathobiome, Neuroinflammation, microbiome, virome, Metabotype, precision prevention
Received: 08 Jul 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tettevi, Simpong, Adu-Nti, Osae-Nyarko and Osei-Atweneboana. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Edward Jenner Tettevi, ejtettevi@gmail.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.