According to new findings, a fungal yeast found in cheese and other foods can wreak havoc in the intestines of people with Crohn’s disease. In a study published Thursday, researchers found evidence that Crohn’s patients are more likely to carry that yeast than people without the disease, and that this yeast is linked to the intestinal wounds that the patients tend to heal slowly. If valid, the findings could lead to new treatments and preventative measures for the chronic and painful condition.
Crohn’s is one of the most well-known versions of inflammatory intestinal disease (IBD). There is no clear cause for IBD, but genetics and a defective immune system are suspected to play a major role. Patients experience a wide range of mostly gastrointestinal symptoms caused by chronic intestinal inflammation, which come and go as a flare-up of the disease. These include diarrhea, fever, cramps and weight loss. Although there are medications that can treat symptoms, along with diet To help people avoid possible triggers of an episode, few sufferers experience persistent remission.
Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic and elsewhere have been studying Crohn’s for some time now in hopes of finding something that could help explain how and why the gut becomes so damaged in these patients. Their new research, published in Science, points to one possible culprit: a fungus called Debaryomyces hansenii.
The scientists studied mice made to develop Crohn’s-like symptoms, as well as biopsy samples of intestinal tissue from people diagnosed with Crohn’s. In both groups they found an abundance of D. hansenii around wounded or inflamed tissue, but not in samples taken from healthy people or in the unflamed tissue of Crohn’s patients.
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They found the fungi in, for example, all seven samples taken from a group of Crohn’s patients, but in only one of the ten healthy controls used as a comparison. They also found evidence that this yeast is directly related to the slow healing of intestinal wounds in mice. And when they take samples of the fungi from a Crohn’s patient or sick mice and give them to a new group of healthy mice, the mice’s ability to heal intestinal wounds gets worse. This effect was then reversed when mice received antifungal treatment.
According to the researchers, all the findings meet Koch’s postulates, a criterion that scientists use to prove that a specific microbe causes a specific set of symptoms. In other words, it indicates D. hansenii is not only a harmless bystander found in the intestines of these patients, but an active source of problems. At this stage, it is not known how patients can be exposed to the fungi, or foods rich in yeast, such as cheese, may be one source.
‘We suggest it D. hansenii inhibits the repair of gastric ulcers in the inner lining of the intestine in patients with Crohn’s disease, ”the author, Thaddeus Stappenbeck, chair of the inflammation and immunity division of the Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, said in an email to Gizmodo . “This feature is a feature of many Crohn’s patients with moderate to severe disease.”
According to their current theory, the fungal infection does not cause Crohn’s disease itself, Stappenbeck added. On the contrary, it ‘continues the disease that has already been initiated’.
The findings are still based on a small group of patients and research on animals, and should therefore not be seen as definitive proof of the team’s theory. And even if they are right, Crohn’s and IBD in general will have a stay complex disease with symptoms that cannot be completely explained by a single microbe. In the mice they studied, for example, the fungal overgrowth only occurred after the mice received antibiotics. Other research has shown antibiotics as a possible risk factor for Crohn’s, as it can disturb the delicate microscopic environment of our intestines, the intestinal microbiome.
If future research does show a strong link between Crohn’s and D. hanseniihowever, it can lead to important new treatments and strategies for managing the disease. ‘For patients with D. hansenii in their stomach ulcers we intend to test fungicides, ”Stappenbeck said. “We hope it will also encourage the development of antifungals with fewer side effects.”
Another area of research may include the following: D. hansenii It appears to cause intestinal inflammation in the body through a protein called CC5 which is produced by some immune cells. And since the yeast is commonly found in cheese and other processed foods, it may be worthwhile for patients in general to avoid these foods, the researchers say. The team also plans to further study how the yeast interacts with the gut microbiome and immune systems of people with Crohn’s.
This article was updated with comments from one of the authors of the study.