human gut metagenome Targeted Locus (Loci). human gut metagenome

Ulcerative colitis (UC), one of the inflammatory infectious bowel diseases, causes chronic inflammation of the colon. The inflammation extends from the rectum proximally in a continuous manner. The extent of inflammation can vary in individuals. Mixed results from antibiotic and probiotic treatments imply that gut microbes might play a role in UC either through host interactions with commensal microbes or as a consequence of changes in microbial communities that reflect an altered host inflammatory response to pathobionts. Patients with medically refractory UC may undergo surgical intervention, which involves a colectomy with an ileal pouch anal anastomosis. The ileal pouch functions as a new reservoir to store stool and it undergoes physiologic changes to become more “colon-like” within the first 4 months including colonic epithelial function and a microbial composition similar to that residing in the colon. Although the ileal tissue is initially normal, approximately 50% of patients develop inflammation of the ileal pouch (pouchitis) which exhibits a pathophysiology similar to UC. The similarities between pouchitis and UC coupled with the predictable incidence of pouchitis enables prospective investigations of UC etiology prior to inflammation including the characterization of microbiome shifts and altered host gene expression within individual patients as their pouch transitions from an initial non-inflamed to an inflamed and post-antibiotic condition.