Seroprevalence ofFusobacterium variumin ulcerative colitis patients in Japan

Abstract

The etiology of ulcerative colitis (UC) is unknown, while an exacerbating factor of this disease is associated with infectious agents. Recently, Fusobacterium varium has been found in the mucosa of a significant number of patients with UC. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of F. varium infection based on serology, evaluate the relationship between F. varium seropositivity and UC, and determine the clinical characteristics of infected UC individuals. Seropositive patients were determined by immunoblotting with F. varium ATCC 8501 antigen. We also identified cross-reactive protein spots by peptide mass mapping analysis. These protein spots showed putative caseinolytic protease protein, putative translation elongation factor G, and putative enolase. Immunoblotting with F. varium antigen revealed signals with sera from 45 (40.2%) of the 112 UC patients and 20 (15.6%) of the 128 healthy controls, respectively (P o 0.01). In terms of disease activity, seropositive UC patients were more likely to have clinically severe disease than seronegative UC patients. Disease location in seropositive patients was more extensive than the seronegative patients. In conclusion, F. varium is a predominant infection in the UC population and is a potential pathogen of UC.

Fusobacterium nucleatum Infection of Colonic Cells Stimulates MUC2 Mucin and Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha

“…There is also an established role for the gut microflora in the promotion of IBD exacerbation (1). Over the past decade, several bacterial pathogens have been implicated as contributing or even causal factors in IBD, including Mycobacterium paratuberculosis (5), adherent-invasive E. coli (38), and Fusobacterium varium (32,34). We have previously shown an increased recovery of highly invasive isolates of F. nucleatum from the gastrointestinal mucosae of CD patients compared to those of control colon cancer screen patients (40).…”

Local appendiceal dysbiosis: the missing link between the appendix and ulcerative colitis?

“…Using immunoblotting with a F varium antigen Minami et al found positive signals with sera from 45 (40.2%) of 112 UC patients versus 20 (15.6%) of 128 healthy controls (p<0.01). Seropositive UC patients were more likely to have clinically severe disease than seronegative UC patients and the disease location in seropositive patients was more extensive than in seronegative patients 7. Finally, a 2-week triple antibiotic therapy to which F varium is susceptible (tetracycline, metronidazole and amoxicillin) produced improvement, remission and steroid withdrawal in active UC more effectively than a placebo 8…”

Bacterial Flora in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

“…Many authors follow a 'candidate bug approach' concentrating efforts on one micro-organism such as mycobacteria, Clostridium difficile , Helicobacter sp., Listeria , strains or groups of Escherichia coli, and fusobacteria [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] . Potentially protective microbes have also been studied, including lactobacilli, bifidobacteria and, more recently, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii [13][14][15][16] .…”