Project description
Significance of gut microbiota in inflammatory bowel diseases
Immune-related inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) include Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, disorders characterised by gut inflammation. IBD incidence has increased in Western countries in recent decades, pointing to the role of environmental factors. The condition of gut microbiota and an alteration in intestinal and immune cell energy metabolism have been linked to the pathogenesis of IBD. The EU-funded ENERGISED project aims to identify the microorganisms and their metabolites impacting energy metabolism in the host cells and understand the significance of gut microbiota and metabolism alterations in IBD pathogenesis. The project objective is to design novel microbiota-based therapeutic strategies to regulate the host cell energy state in IBD cases.
Objective
Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, are immune-related disorders characterized by
inappropriate gut inflammation. Their incidence has increased dramatically in Western countries in recent decades, supporting a role
for environmental factors. Despite the development of new treatments, IBD are insufficiently controlled in a large proportion of
patients, inducing an alteration in quality of life and a socioeconomic burden. A better understanding of the pathogenesis and
identification of new therapeutic targets are therefore urgently needed. In this context, the gut microbiota has been recognized as a
strong actor in IBD. Additionally, an alteration in intestinal and immune cell energy metabolism has been suggested in the
pathogenesis. Classical host-microbe interaction concepts rely on the recognition of conserved microbial motifs by innate immunity
sensors or on the action of microbial molecules on a host cell receptor. However, energy metabolism plays a crucial role in mounting
the appropriate cellular response, and emerging data indicate that the gut microbiota may directly affect it. I hypothesize that the
altered gut microbiota in IBD contributes to the impairment of host cell energy metabolism and pathogenesis. The aims of
ENERGISED are to (i) identify the microorganisms and microbiota-derived metabolites impacting host cell energy metabolism and the
mechanisms involved and (ii) decipher the consequences of gut microbiota alterations on host cell energy metabolism in IBD and
design new microbiota-based therapeutic strategies to manipulate the host cell energy state in IBD.
This challenging project involves multidisciplinary aspects from microbiology to immunology, metabolism, and medicine; the use of
multiple cutting-edge technologies; and translational analysis from mice to humans. In addition to its scientific importance, it will
have societal impacts due to the identification of new therapeutic strategies.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsHost institution
75006 Paris
France