Gut Microbiome Predicts Crohn's Disease Onset in Healthy Relatives

Gut microbiome composition is associated with future onset of Crohn's disease and may contribute to its pathogenesis, according to study results published online ahead of print in Gastroenterology.

“Case-control studies of CD patients have catalogued alterations in the gut microbiome composition; however, these studies fail to distinguish if the altered gut microbiome composition is associated with initiation of CD or is the result of inflammation or drug treatment,” wrote corresponding author Kenneth Croitoru, MD, of the University of Toronto and Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada, and coauthors.

Consequently, researchers focused on the gut microbiomes of 3483 healthy first-degree relatives of patients with CD for this prospective study. They applied a machine learning approach to the analysis of gut microbiome composition to identify a microbiome signature associated with the future onset of Crohn's disease.

Using the median of a microbiome risk score from a discovery cohort as the threshold, researchers identified a 2.24 hazard ratio with the microbiome risk score in a validation cohort. The microbiome risk score predicted participants who went on to develop CD as many as 5 years before onset, according to the study.

Ruminococcus torques, Blautia, Colidextribacter, an uncultured genus-level group from Oscillospiraceace, and Roseburia were the most important taxa in the risk score, results showed.

“This study suggests that the microbiome risk score could offer the possibility to stratify healthy at-risk individuals that would benefit from interventions aimed at modifying the microbial imbalance and possibly reducing the risk of developing CD,” researchers advised.

Reference:
Raygoza Garay JA, Turpin W, Lee SH, et al. Gut microbiome composition is associated with future onset of Crohn’s disease in healthy first-degree relatives. Gastroenterology. Published online May 30, 2023. doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2023.05.032