Evaluation of different responses of the intestinal microbiota to a TNF-α mediated pro-inflammatory stimulus by the HTF-Microbi.Array

We developed a non-invasive ex vivo HT29 cell-based minimal model to fingerprint the mucosa-associated microbiota fraction in humans. HT29 cell-associated fractions were characterized by the universal phylogenetic array platform HTF-Microbi.Array, both in presence or in absence of a TNF-α-mediated pro-inflammatory stimulus. A high taxonomical level fingerprint profiling of the mucosa-associated microbiota was performed on a group of 12 breast-fed infants and 6 adults (used as controls). Relative abundance of the bacterial species was assessed by using a so-called HTF-Microbi.Array, based on a ligation detection reaction (LDR) - Univerasal array (UA) assay, capable of correctly identify up to 31 intestinal bacterial groups, covering up to 95% of the human gut microbiota