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Updated: Aug 5, 2026

In Vivo Augmentation of Gut-Homing Regulatory T Cell Induction
Published on: January 22, 2020
Microbiota-derived 10-hydroxystearic acid activates PPARα to restore gut epithelial barrier integrity and enhance
Dylan Kramer1, Clarissa Santos Rocha1, Christopher A Gaulke2
1Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
Abstract:
HIV infection disrupts gut epithelial barrier integrity and mucosal immunity, driving chronic inflammation and disease progression which are not fully resolved despite anti-retroviral therapy. Here we identify the microbiota-derived octadecanoid-hydroxy-fatty-acid metabolite 10-hydroxystearic acid (10-HSA), produced by Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, as a key mediator of gut epithelial barrier repair in human intestinal epithelial cells in vitro, ex vivo and in the non-human primate model of HIV/AIDS. X-ray crystallography and transcriptomics combined with functional analyses revealed that 10-HSA directly binds PPARα, inducing lipid metabolism, mitochondrial regeneration and subsequent epigenetic histone crotonylation, thereby promoting gut epithelial renewal. Co-administration of 10-HSA with anti-retroviral therapy in SIV-infected macaques accelerated viral suppression, resolved systemic inflammation, repaired gut epithelial integrity and recovered the gut microbiota. These findings identify a microbiota-derived lipid metabolite-PPARα-histone crotonylation axis that activates gut epithelial regeneration. This study defines a host-microbiome metabolic pathway that restores epithelial-immune homeostasis and enhances the efficacy of anti-retroviral therapy.
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