Insights into the Role of Human Gut Microbiota in Clostridioides difficile Infection

Abstract

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) has emerged as a major health problem worldwide. A major risk factor for disease development is prior antibiotic use, which disrupts the normal gut microbiota by altering its composition and the gut’s metabolic functions, leading to the loss of colonization resistance and subsequent CDI. Data from human studies have shown that the presence of C. difficile, either as a colonizer or as a pathogen, is associated with a decreased level of gut microbiota diversity. The investigation of the gut’s microbial communities, in both healthy subjects and patients with CDI, elucidate the role of microbiota and improve the current biotherapeutics for patients with CDI. Fecal microbiota transplantation has a major role in managing CDI, aiming at re-establishing colonization resistance in the host gastrointestinal tract by replenishing the gut microbiota. New techniques, such as post-genomics, proteomics and metabolomics analyses, can possibly determine in the future the way in which C. difficile eradicates colonization resistance, paving the way for the development of new, more successful treatments and prevention. The aim of the present review is to present recent data concerning the human gut microbiota with a focus on its important role in health and disease.

Clostridioides difficile specific DNA adenine methyltransferase CamA squeezes and flips adenine out of DNA helix

“…In the developed world, C. difficile is one of the leading causes of hospital-acquired infections, often following antibiotic therapy 4 . This pathogen produces endospores, making decontamination difficult 5 , 6 , and it causes deadly infections by producing significant toxins 7 , 8 , and by stabilizing the colon bacterial population (microbiota, or microbiome) in an unhealthy distribution 9 , 10 . The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified C. difficile infections as being an urgent healthcare risk, associated with substantial morbidity and mortality 11 .…”

A Novel Non-Digestible, Carrot-Derived Polysaccharide (cRG-I) Selectively Modulates the Human Gut Microbiota while Promoting Gut Barrier Integrity: An Integrated In Vitro Approach

“…The colon contains a vast number of bacteria that largely impact human health. Next to preventing pathogen colonization through secretion of antimicrobial agents [ 1 , 2 , 3 ], the gut microbiota is involved in food processing, synthesis of essential vitamins and production of health-promoting short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), including acetate, propionate and butyrate [ 4 ], upon anaerobic fermentation of for instance dietary fibers [ 5 ]. While butyrate is an important energy source for colonocytes with anti-inflammatory and intestinal barrier-protecting effects, propionate exerts anti-lipogenic and cholesterol-lowering effects in the liver [ 6 ].…”

<p>Intestinal Microbiota in Elderly Inpatients with <em>Clostridioides difficile</em> Infection</p>

“…32 These aged mice generated lower serum levels of anti-C. difficile toxin A immunoglobulin M and immunoglobulin G, and had altered microbiota structure 5 The specific alterations in the gut microbiota of the treated mice with antibiotics have been shown the loss of colonization resistance to C. difficile, an increase in the Firmicutes and Proteobacteria, and more specifically in the Lactobacillaceae and Pseudomonadaceae families. 32 Some other bacterial groups could be associated with a CDI or non-CDI status, which depends on the other microorganisms present in the microbiota. 2 Loss of Bacteroidales may be a biomarker for C. difficile positive status and worsening the clinical prognosis.…”