Gut microbiome in driving environmental pollutant trichloroethene-mediated autoimmunity

To determine how gut microbiome dysbiosis contributes to TCE-mediated autoimmunity, and the triggers for microbiome-host interactions leading to systemic autoimmune response, female MRL+/+ mice were treated with 0.5 mg/ml TCE for 52 weeks and fecal samples were subjected to 16S rDNA sequencing to determine the microbiome composition. Furthermore, fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from TCE-treated donor mice to antibiotic-treated recipient mice was performed to establish causal role of gut microbiome in TCE-mediated autoimmunity. This study identified changes in gut microbiome and unraveled potential mechanisms (intestinal integrity and mucosal immunity) that could contribute to systemic inflammatory immune disorders following TCE exposure.

为明确肠道菌群失调（gut microbiome dysbiosis）在三氯乙烯（TCE）介导的自身免疫中的作用机制，以及阐明引发菌群-宿主互作并最终导致全身性自身免疫应答的触发因素，本研究以雌性MRL+/+小鼠为实验模型，以0.5 mg/ml浓度的TCE进行为期52周的染毒处理，随后收集粪便样本进行16S rDNA测序以解析菌群组成。此外，本研究还开展了粪便菌群移植（FMT）实验：将经TCE处理的供体小鼠粪便菌群移植至经抗生素预处理的受体小鼠体内，以验证肠道菌群在TCE介导的自身免疫过程中的因果作用。本研究鉴定了TCE暴露后肠道菌群的特征变化，并揭示了可能参与介导TCE暴露后全身性炎症性免疫紊乱的潜在机制——即肠道屏障完整性与黏膜免疫。