Crohn's Disease, Delayed Healing and Fungus
Crohn's disease, an inflammatory bowel disease, is thought to occur when immune cells in the gut overreact.
In addition, the microbiome of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses living in the intestines is thought to be involved in this process. This excessive immune response means that the cells lining the gastrointestinal tract can be damaged.
This Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disease and can occur anywhere in the gastrointestinal tract, but it is mostly found in the small intestine and colon. Scientists have been studying the relationship between the gut microbiota and the inflammation of Crohn's disease with the aim of developing targeted therapies.
The research team
administered antibiotics to mice with damaged intestinal tissue. Antibiotics are sometimes given to Crohn's patients to reduce the complications associated with the infection, but antibiotics can also disrupt the gut environment.
The researchers then found that the antibiotics delayed wound healing in the intestines. For about a week after the antibiotics were administered, fungi were found to live in the damaged areas of the intestines. When the mice were treated with antifungal drugs, the damaged area began to heal.
Genetic analysis showed that a fungus called Debaryomyceshansenii, a type of yeast, predominated in the damaged area of the antibiotic-treated mice. However, it was not found in areas near healthy tissue. It was also not found at the site of damage during healing in mice that had not been treated with antibiotics.
To see if the fungus was delaying healing, the researchers decided to give the fungus to other mice with intestinal damage without administering antibiotics beforehand. Later, the fungus was found at the site of the injury and delayed healing was observed.
Further research led the immune system to produce a signaling molecule called CCL5; when given to mice lacking CCL5, the fungus did not delay healing at the site of injury. A similar effect was observed when CCL5 was blocked by the drug.
In tissue samples taken from seven people with Crohn's disease and ten people without the disease, we were able to find yeast fungus in all of them. More fungi were found to live in the damaged intestinal tissue than in the undamaged areas.
These findings are not a common component of the gut microbiota of healthy people, so we don't know how a typical diet will affect them.
The importance of our study is to define a clear link between specific gut bacteria and the wound-healing response," Stappenbeck said.
The importance of our research is to define a clear link between specific gut bacteria and the wound healing response," says Stappenbeck.
"Targeting this infection may be a viable approach to treating the disease and developing diet-based prevention strategies.
Debaryomyces is enriched in Crohn's disease intestinal tissue and impairs healing in mice Jain U, Ver Heul AM, Xiong S, Gregory MH, Demers EG, Kern JT, Lai CW, Muegge BD, Barisas DAG, Leal-Ekman JS Deepak P, Ciorba MA, Liu TC, Hogan DA, Debbas P, Braun J , McGovern DPB, Underhill DM, Stappenbeck TS. science. 2021 Mar 12; 371(6534):1154-1159. doi: 10.1126 / science.abd0919. pmid: 33707263.
