Crohn’s Disease (CD) is associated with a dysregulated immune response to the intestinal microbiota. Changes in composition of the intestinal bacteria and reduced diversity have been observed in CD. In particular, Proteus spp, Gram-negative facultative anaerobic bacilli causing infection and systemic inflammation, have recently been associated with CD. However, it is unclear whether Proteus spp enrichment could cause inflammation, progression and disease recurrence in patients with CD.
Zhang et al. isolated Proteus spp strains from 54 stool and 101 mucosal tissue samples from patients with CD in order to investigated their molecular and biochemical characteristics comparing with healthy controls.
Results showed that Proteus spp were significantly more abundant in fecal samples and mucosal tissue of patients with CD than healthy controls. Proteus mirabilis were the prevalent strain identified in the samples collected. Moreover, mice feeded with Proteus mirabilis developed severe gut inflammation. Additional analyses demonstrated that this strain enhanced the activation of proinflammatory pathways, such as NOD-like receptor signaling, Jak-STAT signaling, and MAPK signaling pathways, and the expression of proinflammatory cytokines, such as TNFa, IL-18, and IL-1α and cellular necrosis.
Togheter, the data collected demonstrated that Proteus mirabilis can promote gut inflammation by inducing proinflammatory pathways and promoting cytokines expression, highlighting its important role in the CD development. So, Proteus mirabilis could be considered as a diagnostic and therapeutic target to improve patient recovery and remission.
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