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Microbiome

Bacterial imbalance in Crohn's disease

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 12, page 313 (2014)Cite this article

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Crohn's disease is characterized by chronic inflammation of the gut, and previous studies have implicated aberrant immune responses to the gut microbiota as key contributors to pathogenesis. To gain a more thorough understanding of the relationship between the microbiota and disease development, Gevers et al. analysed mucosal biopsy and faecal samples from 447 children with new-onset, untreated Crohn's disease and from 221 healthy controls. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA showed an overall reduction in species diversity in the diseased samples, which was accompanied by increases in the abundances of Enterobacteriaceae, Pasteurellacaea, Veillonellaceae and Fusobacteriaceae and reductions in the abundances of Erysipelotrichales, Bacteroidales and Clostridiales. Interestingly, this dysbiosis was only observed in mucosal samples and not in faecal samples, which indicates that changes in the mucosa-associated microbiota are more important for Crohn's disease pathogenesis than changes in the luminal microbiota. At the time of sample collection, 57 of the children with Crohn's disease had received antibiotics, and the dysbiosis was even more pronounced in these subjects. Thus, the authors suggest that the current practice of antibiotic treatment for Crohn's disease might increase dysbiosis and should be re-evaluated.

dysbiosis was only observed in mucosal samples and not in faecal samples

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References

  1. Gevers, D. et al. The treatment-naive microbiome in new-onset Crohn's disease. Cell Host Microbe 15, 382–392 (2014)

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  1. Ursula Hofer
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Sommer, F. & Bäckhed, F. The gut microbiota — masters of host development and physiology. Nature Rev. Microbiol. 11, 227–238 (2013)

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Hofer, U. Bacterial imbalance in Crohn's disease. Nat Rev Microbiol 12, 313 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro3255

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