The Rheumatologist
COVID-19 NewsACR Convergence
  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed
  • Home
  • Conditions
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • SLE (Lupus)
    • Crystal Arthritis
      • Gout Resource Center
    • Spondyloarthritis
    • Osteoarthritis
    • Soft Tissue Pain
    • Scleroderma
    • Vasculitis
    • Systemic Inflammatory Syndromes
    • Guidelines
  • Resource Centers
    • Axial Spondyloarthritis Resource Center
    • Gout Resource Center
    • Psoriatic Arthritis Resource Center
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis Resource Center
    • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center
  • Drug Updates
    • Biologics & Biosimilars
    • DMARDs & Immunosuppressives
    • Topical Drugs
    • Analgesics
    • Safety
    • Pharma Co. News
  • Professional Topics
    • Ethics
    • Legal
    • Legislation & Advocacy
    • Career Development
      • Certification
      • Education & Training
    • Awards
    • Profiles
    • President’s Perspective
    • Rheuminations
    • Interprofessional Perspective
  • Practice Management
    • Billing/Coding
    • Quality Assurance/Improvement
    • Workforce
    • Facility
    • Patient Perspective
    • Electronic Health Records
    • Apps
    • Information Technology
    • From the College
    • Multimedia
      • Audio
      • Video
  • Resources
    • Issue Archives
    • ACR Convergence
      • Gout Resource Center
      • Axial Spondyloarthritis Resource Center
      • Psoriatic Arthritis
      • Abstracts
      • Meeting Reports
      • ACR Convergence Home
    • American College of Rheumatology
    • ACR ExamRheum
    • Research Reviews
    • ACR Journals
      • Arthritis & Rheumatology
      • Arthritis Care & Research
      • ACR Open Rheumatology
    • Rheumatology Image Library
    • Treatment Guidelines
    • Rheumatology Research Foundation
    • Events
  • About Us
    • Mission/Vision
    • Meet the Authors
    • Meet the Editors
    • Contribute to The Rheumatologist
    • Subscription
    • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Search
You are here: Home / Articles / Fungal Microbiota Dysbiosis Seen in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Fungal Microbiota Dysbiosis Seen in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

February 13, 2016 • By Anne Harding

  • Tweet
  • Email
Print-Friendly Version / Save PDF

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) show imbalance in their fungal intestinal microbiota, according to new findings.

You Might Also Like
  • Gut Microbiota Directly Affects Inflammatory Arthritis
  • Statin Use Tied to Lower Risk of Inflammatory Bowel Disease
  • Patients Don’t Realize Smoking Worsens Inflammatory Bowel Disease

“The fungal microbiota is a new actor to take into account in the pathogenesis of IBD and potentially in other diseases,” Dr. Harry Sokol of Hospital Saint-Antoine in Paris, an author of the new study, told Reuters Health in an email. The findings were published online on Feb. 3 in Gut.

ad goes here:advert-1
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

Bacterial dysbiosis is known to occur in IBD, with reduced biodiversity, decreases in some Firmicutes bacteria and increases in some types of Proteobacteria, including Escherichia coli, Dr. Sokol and his colleagues note in their report. Two molecules involved in innate immunity to fungi, Card9 and Dectin1, have been shown to affect susceptibility to intestinal inflammation in mice, they add.

To determine whether IBD patients might also show differences in their fungal microbiota, Dr. Sokol and colleagues looked at the bacterial and fungal composition of fecal microbiota in 235 IBD patients and 38 healthy controls.

ad goes here:advert-2
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

IBD patients had an increased ratio of Basidiomycota to Ascomycota, the researchers found. They also had higher levels of pro-inflammatory fungi, such as Candida albicans, and lower levels of anti-inflammatory fungi, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Patients with Chrohn’s disease (CD) had decreased involvement of the Basidiomycota phylum, especially unidentified Malasseziales, compared to healthy subjects, while this involvement was increased in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients compared with controls.

“The concomitant analysis of the bacterial microbiota in the same subjects allowed us to point out many correlations between bacterial and fungal components with differences between IBD and healthy subjects, suggesting the existence of disease-specific inter-kingdom alterations,” Dr. Sokol said.

ad goes here:advert-3
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

“Moreover, we identified specific alterations in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis,” he added. “Finally, although our study was not of sufficient power to statistically demonstrate an association between genotype and fungal microbiota, we identified some trends suggesting that genetic polymorphisms associated with IBD or IBD severity may influence fungal microbiota dysbiosis.”

The findings suggest that the fungal microbiome could be a target for treating IBD, Dr. Sokol said. “We can imagine targeting pro-inflammatory fungi and/or supplementing patients with anti-inflammatory ones in order to restore the balance in the gut,” he added.

“The next steps are to experimentally understand the effect of fungal components of the microbiota on the host and also the dialog with bacteria within the gut,” Dr. Sokol said. “This would help defining an appropriate therapeutic strategy targeting the fungal microbiota.”

Pages: 1 2 | Single Page

Filed Under: Conditions, Systemic Inflammatory Syndromes Tagged With: Crohn's disease, fungal, Fungal Microbiota Dysbiosis, inflammatory bowel disease, microbiota, ulcerative colitis

You Might Also Like:
  • Gut Microbiota Directly Affects Inflammatory Arthritis
  • Statin Use Tied to Lower Risk of Inflammatory Bowel Disease
  • Patients Don’t Realize Smoking Worsens Inflammatory Bowel Disease
  • Anti-TNF-Associated Skin Lesions Common in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Meeting Abstracts

Browse and search abstracts from the ACR Convergence and ACR/ARP Annual Meetings going back to 2012.

Visit the Abstracts site »

American College of Rheumatology

Visit the official website for the American College of Rheumatology.

Visit the ACR »

Simple Tasks

Learn more about the ACR’s public awareness campaign and how you can get involved. Help increase visibility of rheumatic diseases and decrease the number of people left untreated.

Visit the Simple Tasks site »

The Rheumatologist newsmagazine reports on issues and trends in the management and treatment of rheumatic diseases. The Rheumatologist reaches 11,500 rheumatologists, internists, orthopedic surgeons, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who practice, research, or teach in the field of rheumatology.

About Us / Contact Us / Advertise / Privacy Policy / Terms of Use / Cookie Preferences

  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed

Copyright © 2006–2023 American College of Rheumatology. All rights reserved.

ISSN 1931-3268 (print)
ISSN 1931-3209 (online)