Imbalance in microbial population found in Crohn’s patients
A multi-institutional study led by investigators from Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT reports that newly diagnosed Crohn’s disease patients show increased levels of harmful bacteria and reduced levels of the beneficial bacteria usually found in a healthy gastrointestinal tract. In their paper in the March 12 issue of Cell Host & Microbe, researchers identified how the intestinal microbial population of the Crohn’s patients differed from that of individuals free of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Several studies have suggested that the excessive immune response that characterizes Crohn’s may be associated with an imbalance in the normal microbial population, but the exact relationship has not been clear. The current study analyzes data from the RISK Stratification Study, which was designed to investigate microbial, genetic, and other factors in a group of children newly diagnosed with Crohn’s or other inflammatory bowel diseases. At 28 participating centers in the United...