UCLA

Microbiota are thought to influence the development and progression of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but determining generalizable effects of microbiota on IBD etiology requires larger-scale functional analyses. We colonized germ-free mice with intestinal microbiotas from 30 healthy and IBD donors and determined the homeostatic intestinal T cell response to each microbiota. Compared to microbiotas from healthy donors, transfer of IBD microbiotas into germ-free mice increased numbers of intestinal Th17 cells and Th2 cells and decreased numbers of RORγt⁺ Treg cells. Colonization with IBD microbiotas exacerbated disease in a model where colitis is induced upon transfer of naive T cells into Rag1^-/- mice. The proportions of Th17 and RORγt⁺ Treg cells induced by each microbiota were predictive of human disease status and accounted for disease severity in the Rag1^-/- colitis model. Thus, an impact on intestinal Th17 and RORγt⁺ Treg cell compartments emerges as a unifying feature of IBD microbiotas, suggesting a general mechanism for microbial contribution to IBD pathogenesis.