Roles of Gut Bacteriophages in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Lingling Qv,Lanjuan Li,Jia Zhang,Yongjun Li,Sunbing Mao

doi:10.3389/fcimb.2021.755650

Abstract

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, are chronic, relapsing intestinal inflammatory disorders. Although the molecular mechanisms governing the pathogenesis of IBD are not completely clear, the main factors are presumed to be a complex interaction between genetic predisposition, host immune response and environmental exposure, especially the intestinal microbiome. Currently, most studies have focused on the role of gut bacteria in the onset and development of IBD, whereas little attention has been paid to the enteroviruses. Among of them, viruses that infect prokaryotes, called bacteriophages (phages) occupy the majority (90%) in population. Moreover, several recent studies have reported the capability of regulating the bacterial population in the gut, and the direct and indirect influence on host immune response. The present review highlights the roles of gut phages in IBD pathogenesis and explores the potentiality of phages as a therapeutic target for IBD treatment.

Highlights

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are chronic disorders characterized by persistent inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract (Abraham and Cho, 2009)
We provide an overview of the biology of phages, interactions between phages and their host bacteria, the gut phages community in healthy individuals, the alterations of gut phages in IBD patients and experimental models, and the underlying molecular mechanisms that involved in the initiation and progression of IBD
In order to ascertain whether bacterial imbalance in IBD is related to gut phages, Lepage et al conducted the first study in 2008 to measure the total viral community in CD patients (Lepage et al, 2008)

Summary

Introduction

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are chronic disorders characterized by persistent inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract (Abraham and Cho, 2009). We provide an overview of the biology of phages, interactions between phages and their host bacteria, the gut phages community in healthy individuals, the alterations of gut phages in IBD patients and experimental models, and the underlying molecular mechanisms (e.g., immune and inflammatory regulation) that involved in the initiation and progression of IBD. Current methods for studying the gut virome are dependent on direct observation and counting of VLPs by using EFM and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), isolation of individual phages infecting specific host bacteria strains by culturing, and the newly booming high-throughput metagenomic sequencing and bioinformatics technology (Shkoporov and Hill, 2019).

Results

Conclusion