The development of intestinal microbiota in childhood and host-microbe interactions in pediatric celiac disease

Abstract

The interactions between a host and his/her microbiota have co-evolved over time and they exert profound effects on each other. Intestinal microbiota has been linked with a number of diseases, such as irritable bowel syndrome; it is considered to be a major etiopathological factor since it can alter intestinal homeostasis. However, the role of intestinal microbiota, especially commensals, is unclear in celiac disease. To date, most efforts for detecting potential microbial changes affected by celiac disease have focused on adult individuals and have examined fecal materials, although it is known that early life is the critical period for the microbiota to colonize and establish their niche in the human intestine. At this time in healthy individuals, there is continuing cross-talk with the host e.g. via the immune system, leading to the establishment of homeostasis in both metabolic and immunological programming. Since the intestinal epithelium is the main interface for host- microbe interactions, the role of mucosa-associated microbiota may be distinct from that of fecal microbiota, but both the normal fluctuations in intestinal microbiota and the composition of duodenal mucosa-associated microbiota are still not fully clarified.

The aims of thesis were to characterize the development and stability of intestinal microbiota in healthy young children and to compare the microbial features between children and adults. Furthermore, the aim was to investigate host-microbe interactions in celiac disease by studying duodenal mucosa-associated microbial signatures and mucosal gene expression in healthy children and their counterparts with celiac disease. The microbiota profiles were characterized by using the human intestinal tract chip (HITChip), which is a bacterial phylogenetic microarray. The amounts of Bifidobacterium spp. in children and adults were verified with real time qPCR. The levels of mucosal gene expressions were quantified with reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR.

The results showed that intestinal microbiota is not fully matured at the age of five in children. A common core microbiota, including several butyrate-producing bacteria, was identified in children and it was developing towards core microbiota found in adults. The different progression pattern of major bacterial taxa may reflect the physiological development steps in children. Moreover, differences were observed between healthy- and celiac disease- associated microbial signatures. The differences may reflect changes in epithelial integrity associated with the disease. On the other hand, the studies on both microbiota and mucosal gene expression indicated that the persistently enhanced Th1 type immune responsiveness in subjects with celiac disease after treating with gluten-free diet might result from the increased expression of TLR9, which recognizes unmethylated CpG motifs in bacterial DNA via the direct stimulation of immune cells and/or intestinal epithelial cells.

The results of this thesis project suggest that specific symbiotic and dysbiotic microbial signatures may provide potential functional diagnostic or therapeutic targets for promoting healthy/natural microbiota development. Long-term studies in a controlled environment with an adequate number of participants will be necessary to decode the disturbed microbial signatures. These trials should be combined with systematic pathological surveillance to reveal how the changes in the microbiota influence the onset of disease.