Intestinal dysbiosis in pediatric patients with Crohn's disease

Abstract

Paediatric Crohn's disease is a disorder characterised by a chronic inflammation that can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract. Intestinal dysbiosis is a key factor in the multifactorial pathogenesis of this disease. Different dietary supplements have been proposed as alternative therapy both on induction and on maintaining remission of this disease. To review current scientific evidence of intestinal dysbiosis in paediatric Crohn's disease patients, as well as efficacy of dietary supplement therapy (especially probiotics). Extensive search of scientific publications was performed in specialized electronic databases: NBCI, Elsevier, Scielo, Scirus and Science Direct. An increase of Proteobacteria and a reduction of Firmicutes were observed in Crohn's disease paediatric patients. However the results referring to phyla Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria are disperse. Referring the use of dietary supplements, the use of probiotics did not show any positive impact in paediatric Crohn's disease patients. A better knowledge and understanding of the bacterial flora modifications in paediatric Crohn's disease patients is possible with the current published results. However, it is not possible to define the precise microbiota associated or causing this disease. In addition, current results do not bring solid evidence of the efficacy of probiotic therapy in those patients.