Bin Bao, Youyuan Wang, Pavl Boudreau, Xinyang Song, Meng Wu, Xi Chen, Izabel Patik, Ying Tang, Jodie Ouahed, Amit Ringel, Jared Barends, Chuan Wu, Emily Balskus, Jay Thiagarajah, Jian Liu, Michael R Wessels, Wayne Lencer, Dennis L Kasper, Dingding An, Bruce Horwitz, Scott B Snapper
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Gut bacterial sphingolipids, primarily produced by Bacteroidetes, have dual roles as bacterial virulence factors and regulators of the host mucosal immune system, including regulatory T cells and iNKT cells. IBD patients display altered sphingolipids profiles in fecal samples. However, how bacterial sphingolipids modulate mucosal homeostasis and regulate intestinal inflammation remains unclear. METHODS: We utilized DSS-induced colitis in mice mono-colonized with Bacteroides fragilis strains expressing or lacking sphingolipids to assess the influence of bacterial sphingolipids on intestinal inflammation employing transcriptional, protein, and cellular analyses...
May 2, 2024: Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology