Abstract
Purpose :
Behcet's disease (BD) is a multi-system chronic inflammatory disease that can lead to irreversible blindness. Based on our previous metagenomic study of the gut microbiome in Behcet's disease, we further investigated the causal relationship between gut microbiota from BD patients and experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU) mice through intestinal barrier function.
Methods :
Fecal samples were collected from 5 active BD patients and 5 healthy controls. After transplantation of pooled fecal samples from active BD patients and healthy control orally in B10.RIII mice, respectively, EAU mice were induced by low dose of IRBP161-180 (25ug/mice). The severity of EAU was evaluated by clinical and histological scores. The levels of proinflammatory genes, including TNF-α, IL-1β, MCP-1, IFN-γ and IL-17, in retina and spleen were detected by real-time PCR and ELISA. The mRNA expressions of Cldn1, Cldn4 and Oclin, tight junction protein, in colon tissue were detected by real-time PCR.
Results :
After fecal microbiota transplantation, we found that gut microbiota from BD could significantly improved the clinical and histological scores in EAU mice. Compared to mice transplanted with fecal microbiota from healthy controls, the levels of proinflammatory were increased in the BD transplantation group. Meanwhile, the feces from BD patients increased the production of IFN-γ and IL-17. Furthermore, the mRNA expressions of Cldn1, Cldn4 and Oclin were decreased in BD transplantation group compared to the controls indicating feces from BD might result in intestinal barrier dysfunction after transplantation.
Conclusions :
Gut microbiota from active BD patients could exacerbate EAU activity and increase the levels of proinflammatory cytokines. Our data also suggested that feces from BD patients might damage the intestinal barrier function in the colon.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.