Early-life antibiotic use enhances the pathogenicity of CD4+ T cells during intestinal inflammation

[AndyPR]

I'm convinced I've seen this before but I can't find it on PR, so sorry if this is a duplication.

Abstract: The incidence of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) has steadily increased in recent decades—a phenomenon that cannot be explained by genetic mutations alone. Other factors, including the composition of the intestinal microbiome, are potentially important contributors to the increased occurrence of this group of diseases. Previous reports have shown a correlation between early-life antibiotic (Abx) treatment and an increased incidence of IBD.

In this report, we investigated the effects of early-life Abx treatments on the pathogenicity of CD4+ T cells using an experimental T cell transfer model of IBD. Our results show that CD4+ T cells isolated from adult mice that had been treated with Abx during gestation and in early life induced a faster onset of IBD in Rag1-deficient mice compared with CD4+ T cells of untreated mice. Ex vivo functional analyses of IBD-inducing CD4+ T cells did not show significant differences in their immunologic potential ex vivo, despite their in vivo phenotype.

However, genome-wide gene-expression analysis revealed that these cells displayed dysregulated expression of genes associated with cell-cycle regulation, metabolism, and cellular stress. Analysis of Abx-treated CD4+ T cell donors showed systemically elevated levels of the stress hormone corticosterone throughout life compared with untreated donors. The cohousing of Abx-treated mice with untreated mice decreased serum corticosterone, and a consequent transfer of the cells from cohoused mice into Rag1-deficient mice restored the onset and severity of disease to that of untreated animals. Thus, our results suggest that early-life Abx treatment results in a stress response with high levels of corticosterone that influences CD4+ T cell function.

http://www.jleukbio.org/content/101/4/893

This article reports on this study http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...alth-inflammation_us_58e3c168e4b03a26a3667198

Antibiotics are a sometimes necessary evil, but they can upset the body’s delicate bacterial balance.

For the gut in particular ― which is home to trillions of bacteria that play a crucial role in our physical and mental health ― antibiotics can cause serious damage. The healthy bacteria inhabiting the digestive tract are critical for maintaining the health of the digestive system, brain and immune system in particular, along with numerous other systems in the body. One single course of antibiotics can indiscriminately kill off hundreds of important strains of healthy bacteria alongside the bad bacteria it aims to target.

Now, a Monash University study involving mice, published in the April issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, finds that childhood antibiotic use impedes the normal growth and development of gut bacteria. This, in turn, affects the function of the immune system ― around 70 percent of which is contained in the gut.

This can lead to inflammatory diseases like multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel syndrome and asthma in adulthood, the research found.

 

[kangaSue]

"The incidence of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) has steadily increased in recent decades—"
So has junk foods and junk food stores, metabolomics ramping up to bite us on the butt.

 

[adreno]

What is considered "early life" for humans?

 

[CCC]

So kids who eat sand and dirt are really only restocking the pantry?

I knew it couldn't be all bad.