Successful DietaryTherapy in Paediatric Crohn’s Disease is Associated with Shifts in Bacterial Dysbiosis and Inflammatory MetabotypeTowards Healthy Controls

Charlotte M. Verburgt, Katherine A. Dunn, Mohammed Ghiboub, James D. Lewis, Eytan Wine, Rotem Sigall Boneh, Konstantinos Gerasimidis, Raanan Shamir, Susanne Penny, Devanand M. Pinto, Alejandro Cohen, Paul Bjorndahl, Vaios Svolos, Joseph P. Bielawski, Marc A. Benninga, Wouter J. de Jonge, Johan E. van Limbergen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background and aims: Nutritional therapy with the Crohn’s Disease Exclusion Diet + Partial Enteral Nutrition [CDED+PEN] or Exclusive Enteral Nutrition [EEN] induces remission and reduces inflammation in mild-to-moderate paediatric Crohn’s disease [CD]. We aimed to assess if reaching remission with nutritional therapy is mediated by correcting compositional or functional dysbiosis. Methods: We assessed metagenome sequences, short chain fatty acids [SCFA] and bile acids [BA] in 54 paediatric CD patients reaching remission after nutritional therapy [with CDED + PEN or EEN] [NCT01728870], compared to 26 paediatric healthy controls. Results: Successful dietary therapy decreased the relative abundance of Proteobacteria and increased Firmicutes towards healthy controls. CD patients possessed a mixture of two metabotypes [M1 and M2], whereas all healthy controls had metabotype M1. M1 was characterised by high Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes, low Proteobacteria, and higher SCFA synthesis pathways, and M2 was associated with high Proteobacteria and genes involved in SCFA degradation. M1 contribution increased during diet: 48%, 63%, up to 74% [Weeks 0, 6, 12, respectively.]. By Week 12, genera from Proteobacteria reached relative abundance levels of healthy controls with the exception of E. coli. Despite an increase in SCFA synthesis pathways, remission was not associated with increased SCFAs. Primary BA decreased with EEN but not with CDED+PEN, and secondary BA did not change during diet. Conclusion: Successful dietary therapy induced correction of both compositional and functional dysbiosis. However, 12 weeks of diet was not enough to achieve complete correction of dysbiosis. Our data suggests that composition and metabotype are important and change quickly during the early clinical response to dietary intervention. Correction of dysbiosis may therefore be an important future treatment goal for CD.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)61-72
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Crohn's and Colitis
Volume17
Issue number1
Early online date15 Sept 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2023

Keywords

  • Crohn’s disease
  • Diet
  • inflammatory bowel disease
  • microbiome
  • treatment

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