PLOS ONE · 18 authors, 4 centres
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This longitudinal cohort study analyzed fecal microbiota across four seasons in IBD patients and healthy controls, finding that Actinomyces and its symbiont TM7-3 were correlatively more abundant in autumn in CD patients, with higher autumn TM7-3 abundance associated with fewer therapeutic interventions over three years.
This single-center prospective cohort study examined seasonal variation in fecal microbiota of 47 participants (19 Crohn's disease, 20 ulcerative colitis, 8 healthy controls) who provided 188 fecal samples across four consecutive seasons between November 2015 and April 2019, analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing. In CD patients, the phylum Actinobacteria and TM7 were both significantly more abundant in autumn than in spring and winter, and the genera Actinomyces and TM7-3 were correlatively more abundant in autumn. No short-term correlation was found between these bacteria and CDAI, CRP, or clinical activity indices. In a long-term analysis, CD patients with high autumn abundance of TM7-3 compared to spring required significantly fewer therapeutic interventions over 3 years than those without this seasonal fluctuation. Limitations include the small sample size, single-center design, exclusion of patients with high disease activity, lack of data on diet, smoking, alcohol, and dental history, and the one-year observation window. The authors suggest further investigation into the protective mechanisms of TM7-3 and the role of oral-gut microbial dynamics in IBD pathogenesis.
