By implementing a long-term, prospective approach to the development of celiac disease, a collaborative group of researchers has identified substantial microbial changes in the intestines of at-risk infants before disease onset. Using advanced genomic sequencing techniques, MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) researchers, along with colleagues from institutions in Italy and the University of Maryland, College Park, uncovered distinct preclinical alterations in several species, pathways and metabolites in children who developed celiac disease compared to at-risk children who did not develop celiac disease.
As part of the MGHfC Celiac Disease, Genomic, Microbiome and Metabolomic (CDGEMM) Study, researchers identified changes in the gut microbiomes (collection of microorganisms) and metabolomes (molecular components of cells and tissues) of infants that occurred months before celiac disease onset. Changes include an “increased abundance of pro-inflammatory species and decreased abundances of protective and anti-inflammatory species at various time points preceding the onset of the disease,” according to the group’s article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
