Genetic risk factor for Crohn’s disease influences natural microbiome changes during pregnancy
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© Freepik; The composition of the intestinal microbiome changes during pregnancy.
Studies by the PMI Cluster of Excellence are investigating the influence of genetic risk factors for chronic inflammatory bowel diseases.
Studies by the Cluster of Excellence PMI and the DFG Research Unit “miTarget” are investigating the function of the intestinal microbiome during pregnancy and breastfeeding and its potential significance for patients with chronic inflammatory bowel disease.
Pregnancy is accompanied by profound changes in the body. Among other things, these affect the energy metabolism and the immune system. But the gut microbiome, i.e. the composition of the microbial community in the gut, also changes considerably, especially towards the end of pregnancy. “We are interested in how these microbiome changes influence the course of disease in patients with chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD),” explained Professor Philip Rosenstiel, member of the Board of Directors of the Cluster of Excellence ‘Precision Medicine in Chronic Inflammation’ (PMI) and Director of the Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology (IKMB) at the Faculty of Medicine at Kiel University (CAU) and the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH). Although it is known that the intestinal flora is linked to the development of IBD, it is unclear whether individual changes during pregnancy are related to the course of the disease before and after delivery. A research team from the Cluster of Excellence PMI investigated this question in an animal model for the chronic inflammatory bowel disease Crohn’s disease. The results were recently published in the journal Gut Microbes.
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