Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 14, 2016; 22(22): 5201-5210
Published online Jun 14, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i22.5201
Faecalibacterium prausnitzii supernatant ameliorates dextran sulfate sodium induced colitis by regulating Th17 cell differentiation
Xiao-Li Huang, Xin Zhang, Xian-Yan Fei, Zhao-Gui Chen, Yan-Ping Hao, Shu Zhang, Ming-Ming Zhang, Yan-Qiu Yu, Cheng-Gong Yu
Xiao-Li Huang, Yan-Ping Hao, Yan-Qiu Yu, Cheng-Gong Yu, Department of Gastroenterology, Gulou School of Clinical Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210008, Jiangsu Province, China
Xiao-Li Huang, Department of Gastroenterology, Nanjing Jiangbei People’s Hospital Affiliated to Southeast University Medical School, Nanjing 210048, Jiangsu Province, China
Xin Zhang, Zhao-Gui Chen, Shu Zhang, Xin-Yan Fei, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing 210093, Jiangsu Province, China
Ming-Ming Zhang, Cheng-Gong Yu, Department of Gastroenterology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, the Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing 210008, Jiangsu Province, China
Author contributions: Huang XL and Yu CG performed the majority of experiments, analyzed the data, and wrote the paper; Zhang X, Fei XY, and Chen ZG participated equally in treatment of animals; Zhang X and Hao YP cultured cells; Zhang S, Zhang MM, and Yu YQ performed the molecular investigations; and Yu CG designed the research and revised the paper as corresponding author.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81470819.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Institute of Digestive Disease, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, the Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, China.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All procedures involving animals were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest in this study.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Cheng-Gong Yu, MD, PhD, Department of Gastroenterology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, the Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, No. 321 Zhongshan Road, Nanjing 210008, Jiangsu Province, China. chenggong_yu@nju.edu.cn
Telephone: +86-25-83106666-61311 Fax: +86-25-83105206
Received: January 23, 2016
Peer-review started: January 25, 2016
First decision: February 18, 2016
Revised: February 28, 2016
Accepted: March 18, 2016
Article in press: March 18, 2016
Published online: June 14, 2016
Processing time: 130 Days and 17.4 Hours
Abstract

AIM: To explore the preventive and therapeutic effects of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (F. prausnitzii) supernatant on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) induced colitis in mice.

METHODS: Forty C57BL/6J male mice were randomly divided into four groups: control group, model group, treatment group, and prevention group. Mice were weighed daily. On day 10, the colon length was measured, the colorectal histopathologic damage score (HDS) was assessed, and plasma interleukin (IL)-17A, IL-6, and IL-4 levels were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The expression of transcription factor retinoic acid-related orphan receptor-γt (RORγt) and IL-17A in colon inflammatory mucosa tissue were determined by immunohistochemical assay, and the expression levels of RORγt mRNA, IL-17A mRNA, and IL-6 mRNA were detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The proportion of Th17 in mononuclear cells in spleen was assayed by fluorescence activated cell sorter.

RESULTS: When compared with the model group, the colon length (P < 0.05) and body weight (P < 0.01) in the treatment and prevention groups were significantly increased, and the colon HDS was decreased (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01). There was no statistical difference between the treatment group and prevention group. After treatment with F. prausnitzii supernatant, the plasma levels of IL-17A and IL-6 (P < 0.05), the protein and mRNA expression of IL-17A and RORγt, and the Th17 cell ratio of spleen cells (P < 0.01) were significantly decreased compared to the model group. Plasma IL-4 level in the prevention group was significantly higher than that in the model group (P < 0.05), but there was no significant difference between these two groups in the expression of IL-6 in both the plasma and colon mucosa tissues.

CONCLUSION: F. prausnitzii supernatant exerts protective and therapeutic effects on DSS-induced colitis in mice, probably via inhibition of Th17 differentiation and IL-17A secretion in the plasma and colon mucosa tissues. It can also improve colitis in mice by downregulating IL-6 and prevent colitis by upregulating IL-4.

Keywords: Faecalibacterium prausnitzii; Ulcerative colitis; Animal model; Th17 cell; Treatment; Prevention

Core tip:Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (F. prausnitzii) supernatant has anti-inflammatory and immune regulatory activity. This study showed that the preventive and therapeutic use of F. prausnitzii supernatant could ameliorate dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice by inhibiting Th17 cell differentiation and inflammatory cytokines release.