Gut microbiome markers in subgroups of HLA class II genotyped infants signal future celiac disease in the general...

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Gastroenterology
• Pediatrics

Background:

• Gut microbiome dysbiosis is linked to celiac disease (CD), but specific microbial signatures and early developmental timelines remain unclear.
• Studies on high-risk or diagnosed individuals limit understanding of early-life dysbiosis in the general population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate early gut microbial imbalances in infants that correlate with the future development of celiac disease (fCD).
• To identify specific bacterial signatures in one-year-old infants who later receive a CD diagnosis.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of stool samples from 1478 one-year-old infants from the prospective 'All Babies In Southeast Sweden' cohort.
• Utilized a novel iterative control-matching algorithm to compare infants who later developed CD (fCD) with matched controls.
• Validated microbial differences through 100 separate, iterative permutations of matched controls.

Main Results:

• Identified nine core microbes with prevalence differences and seven differentially abundant bacteria between fCD infants and controls.
• Demonstrated statistically significant bacterial signatures in fCD infants, robust against general population variability.
• Confirmed the presence of gut microbial differences up to 19 years prior to CD diagnosis.

Conclusions:

• Gut microbial differences are detectable in infants as early as one year of age and precede celiac disease diagnosis.
• These findings highlight the potential of early-life gut microbiome analysis for identifying individuals at risk of developing celiac disease.
• This research provides the first evidence of significant gut microbial variations in infancy associated with later CD diagnosis in a general population.