RTI uses cookies to offer you the best experience online. By clicking “accept” on this website, you opt in and you agree to the use of cookies. If you would like to know more about how RTI uses cookies and how to manage them please view our Privacy Policy here. You can “opt out” or change your mind by visiting: http://optout.aboutads.info/. Click “accept” to agree.
Antibiotic-mediated gut microbiome perturbation accelerates development of type 1 diabetes in mice
Livanos, A. E., Greiner, T. U., Vangay, P., Pathmasiri, W., Stewart, D., McRitchie, S., Li, H., Chung, J., Sohn, J., Kim, S., Gao, Z., Barber, C., Kim, J., Ng, S., Rogers, A. B., Sumner, S., Zhang, X.-S., Cadwell, K., Knights, D., ... Blaser, M. J. (2016). Antibiotic-mediated gut microbiome perturbation accelerates development of type 1 diabetes in mice. Nature Microbiology, 1(11), 1-13. Article 16140. https://doi.org/10.1038/NMICROBIOL.2016.140
The early life microbiome plays important roles in host immunological and metabolic development. Because the incidence of type 1 diabetes (T1D) has been increasing substantially in recent decades, we hypothesized that early-life antibiotic use alters gut microbiota, which predisposes to disease. Using non-obese diabetic mice that are genetically susceptible to T1D, we examined the effects of exposure to either continuous low-dose antibiotics or pulsed therapeutic antibiotics (PAT) early in life, mimicking childhood exposures. We found that in mice receiving PAT, T1D incidence was significantly higher, and microbial community composition and structure differed compared with controls. In pre-diabetic male PAT mice, the intestinal lamina propria had lower Th17 and Treg proportions and intestinal SAA expression than in controls, suggesting key roles in transducing the altered microbiota signals. PAT affected microbial lipid metabolism and host cholesterol biosynthetic gene expression. These findings show that early-life antibiotic treatments alter the gut microbiota and its metabolic capacities, intestinal gene expression and T-cell populations, accelerating T1D onset in non-obese diabetic mice.