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Transmission of Human-Associated Microbiota Along Family and Social Networks
By Dr. Katie E.Golden CMIT researchers study village populations in Fiji to try and understand how social networks influence the development of the human microbiome. The microbiome is an integral part of the human gastrointestinal system that contributes to our daily metabolism and immune function. It develops and changes throughout our lifespan, and scientists are…
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Antigen Discovery and Specification of Immunodominance Hierarchies for MHCII-restricted Epitopes
Summary by Katie E. Golden, MD For well over a decade, the world of immunology has been gaining traction as a core focus to better understand, and cure, many human diseases. The science and medical community alike have gained appreciation for the role of immunological processes in infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and cancer. As the…
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Invertible Promoters Mediate Bacterial Phase Variation, Antibiotic Resistance, and Host Adaptation in the Gut
Summary by Katie E Golden, MD The gut microbiome, and its impact on human health and disease, is gaining traction in the research and medical community as an exciting potential for future therapeutics. Disease prevention and advanced therapies will rely on a fundamental understanding of the bacterial mechanisms that guide gut colonization. In a newly…
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Clinical and Biological Predictors of Response to Standardised Paediatric Colitis Therapy
By Katie E. Golden There is currently inadequate evidence-based research to guide the development of treatment regimens in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), which unfortunately translates to a large variation in therapeutic approaches and poorly predicted treatment response. Researchers are trying to change that with the PROTECT trial, a multicenter study investigating pediatric patients diagnosed with…
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Separating Host and Microbiome Contributions to Drug Pharmacokinetics and Toxicity
By Katie E Golden, MD One of the biggest challenges in modern disease treatment is the large amount of variation in anindividual’s response to drug therapy. Despite the rapidly developing pharmaceutical industry, researchers and clinicians still struggle to predict a particular patient’s therapeutic response, or even toxicity, from oral medication. This is determined by not…
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A Defined Commensal Consortium Elicits CD8 T cells and Anti-Cancer Immunity
By Dr.Katie E Golden, MD As current research uncovers the critical role of the human microbiome in both infectious and inflammatory diseases, there is a natural curiosity about its potential for therapeutic intervention. Commensal bacteria have been shown to play a role in protection against infection and autoimmune disease, however we are still at the…
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Even on standardized diet, gut flora change from day to day
Despite a single, unchanging food source in the form of a liquid meal replacement shake, bacteria in the gut are unpredictable, researchers find.
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New Study Links Single Gene in Gut Bacteria to Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome
A Summary of Selective Gut Bacterial Bile Salt Hydrolase Alters Host Metabolism by Yao, et.al. The gut microbiome is quickly emerging as an important research focus to better understand it’s integral role in human health and disease. The scientific community is discovering how the interaction between intestinal microbial communities and their human host impacts the…
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New Study Uncovers Important Principles of Fecal Transplant Therapy in Patients with Recurrent C.Diff Infection
Summary by Katie E. Golden, MD Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), in which donor feces is transplanted into a recipient’s intestinal tract, has emerged as a promising treatment for both infectious and autoimmune diseases. This therapy has shown impressive efficacy in treatment of recurrent Clostridium difficile (C.diff) infection (curing 85% of cases), prompting research that suggests…
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The Colitis Risk Gene C1orf106 (ROCS) Regulates Epithelial Adherens Junction Stability
Summary by Katie Golden With the recent technical advances in genetic sequencing, a number of genes and polymorphisms have been identified that confer increased risk for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Scientific research has not yet elucidated, however, the mechanisms through which these genes promote the pathophysiology of IBD. In this paper, investigators studied the specific…