Microbiome manupulation in the management of acute and chronic colitis: A preclinical research approach

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory disease that can affect all parts of the intestinal tract. This disease has a large impact on both the social and personal life, since it dramatically reduces the quality of life and work capability of the patients. The last fifty years, both the incidence and prevalence of IBD have risen sharply and this increase is more than 10 fold in Western countries within this time frame. In addition, studies examining the epidemiology of childhood-onset IBD indicate that the incidence in young kids is also rising internationally. Despites the increased demand for an improved IBD therapy, a curative therapy for this disease remains absence. The existing treatment methods are all symptom-fighting therapies and often have undesirable side effects. More studies on new and more effective treatment method or means are therefore desirable and necessary.
Although the etiology of development of IBD remains unclear, increasing data indicate that the composition of the microbiota and related immune balance between the microbiota and the immune system of the host play an important role in the pathogenesis of IBD . A changed composition of the microbiota is often observed in the intestine of IBD patients. There is speculation that restoring the original composition will microbiota may lead to recover from IBD patients.
Probiotics, defined as “live microorganisms which when administrated in adequate amounts confer a healthy benefit for the host” have the capability to remodel the microbiota balance, which makes it a potential candidate to prevent or treat IBD. Data from different remodeling IBD animal models do indeed show that probiotics can have beneficial effects for preventing or treating against IBD.
The purpose of this thesis is to provide a better understanding of the disturbed immune responses during IBD development by using dextran sulfate sodium induced mouse colitis model. In addition, selected probiotic strains that can modulate the intestinal microbiome were applied to investigate the possible effects on inflammation and tissue damage in acute and chronic colitis.