They collected information about health, diet, medications, and lifestyle, and analyzed stool samples to determine the bacterial composition of the study group’s gut microbiome.
This new study is the largest from the Gastrointestinal Disease and Endoscopy Registry (GIDER), Massachusetts General’s extensive collaborative research program, allowing researchers to better understand gastrointestinal diseases than ever before. It became so.
This registry will remain active and continuous data collection will allow for long-term follow-up.
The new study, the largest of its kind, analyzed differences in gut bacterial characteristics in people without colon polyps, with tubular adenomas, or with sessile serrated adenomas. They also correlated these data with the patient’s health and family history.
Based on the type and presence of polyps in the colon, bacterial characteristics were classified into three groups.
Nineteen bacterial species were significantly different in tubular adenoma patients compared to other populations.
Eight species were significantly different in patients with solid serrated adenoma.
The authors noted that the study population was mostly Caucasian, which limits generalizability to other population groups, and the study cannot establish whether bacterial species or adenoma tissue changes first. ing.
The next step is to see if researchers can isolate specific bacterial species active in the gut and use laboratory models to test the functional relationship between bacterial species and polyp growth. is.
This information could help develop probiotics and treatments to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer, or screening methods to assess polyp and colorectal cancer risk.
“The hope is that by changing diet and certain aspects of the microbiome, we might be able to change the natural history of these polyps,” Chung said. “Interventions that prevent polyp formation or change their growth patterns may ultimately prevent colorectal cancer.”
Authors, funding, and disclosures
Additional authors include Jonathan Wei Jie Lee and Damian Plichta of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University. Shreya Asher, Marisa Delsignore, Tiffany Chong, Jessica McGoldrick, Kyle Stahler, and Mass General’s Hamed Khalili. and Ramnik Xavier of the Broad Institute and Mass General.
This research was funded in part by MIT’s Center for Microbiome Informatics and Therapeutics, Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research, and National Institutes of Health (DK43351, AI172147, AG068393).
Co-author Ramnik Xavier is a co-founder of Celius Therapeutics and Jnana Therapeutics, a member of Nestle’s scientific advisory board, and a member of the board of directors of Moonlake Immunotherapeutics. Jonathan Wei Jie Lee is a co-founder of AMILI and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board. Chung is a consultant for Guardant. Hamed Khalili has received grants from Pfizer and is a consultant for Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Kyle Staller has served as a consultant for Arena, Boston Pharmaceuticals, Geresis, G.I. Supply, and Takeda/Shire. He has received research support from Ironwood and Urovant.