@article{3033643,
    title = "Candida tropicalis Infection Modulates the Gut Microbiome and Confers
Enhanced Susceptibility to Colitis in Mice",
    author = "Di Martino, Luca and De Salvo, Carlo and Buela, Kristine-Ann and Hager, and Christopher and Ghannoum, Mahmoud and Osme, Abdullah and Butto, Ludovica and and Bamias, Giorgos and Pizarro, Theresa T. and Cominelli, Fabio",
    journal = "CMGH Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology",
    year = "2022",
    volume = "13",
    number = "3",
    pages = "901-923",
    publisher = "W B SAUNDERS CO-ELSEVIER INC",
    issn = "2352-345X",
    doi = "10.1016/j.jcmgh.2021.11.008",
    keywords = "C tropicalis; Colitis; A muciniphila; Mycobiome",
    abstract = "BACKGROUND & AIMS: We previously showed that abundance of Candida
tropicalis is significantly greater in Crohn’s disease patients compared
with first-degree relatives without Crohn’s disease. The aim of this
study was to determine the effects and mechanisms of action of C
tropicalis infection on intestinal inflammation and injury in mice.
METHODS: C57BL/6 mice were inoculated with C tropicalis, and colitis was
induced by administration of dextran sodium sulfate in drinking water.
Disease severity and intestinal permeability subsequently were evaluated
by endoscopy, histology, quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase
chain reaction, as well as 16S ribosomal RNA and NanoString analyses
(NanoString Technologies, Seattle, WA).
RESULTS: Infected mice showed more severe colitis, with alterations in
gut mucosal helper T cells (Th)1 and Th17 cytokine expression, and an
increased frequency of mesenteric lymph node-derived group 2 innate
lymphoid cells compared with uninfected controls. Gut microbiome
composition, including changes in the mucin-degrading bacteria,
Akkermansia muciniphila and Ruminococcus gnavus, was altered
significantly, as was expression of several genes affecting intestinal
epithelial homeostasis in isolated colonoids, after C tropicalis
infection compared with uninfected controls. In line with these
findings, fecal microbiome transplantation of germ-free recipient mice
using infected vs uninfected donors showed altered expression of several
tight-junction proteins and increased susceptibility to dextran sodium
sulfate-induced colitis.
CONCLUSIONS: C tropicalis induces dysbiosis that involves changes in the
presence of mucin-degrading bacteria, leading to altered tight junction
protein expression with increased intestinal permeability and followed
by induction of robust Th1/Th17 responses, which ultimately lead to an
accelerated proinflammatory phenotype in experimental colitic mice."
}