Gene expressions specifically induced by the presence of SFB

To investigate SFB-host interactions and the host response to SFB, we compared gene expression profiles in terminal ileal mucosa collected from 5 SFB-positive and 5-negative age-matched patients identified from SFB PCR. We observed that 472 genes were different between the two groups (P < 0.05). Among them, 290 genes were up-regulated and 182 were down-regulated. GO biological pathway analysis of up-regulated genes revealed positive regulation of T-cell differentiation and activation pathways were enhanced (P < 0.001), suggesting that SFB colonization stimulated the human immune system, specifically T-cell maturation. Indeed, enhanced expression of Cd3e, Ifng, IL10, Foxp3 was observed in terminal ileal mucosa of 5 SFB-positive patients. To find immune-related genes significantly expressed (p < 0.05) between SFB-positive and -negative