Salicin based gut microbiome bacteria and enzymes

Background

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) pertains to chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, and is classified either as ulcerative colitis, which commonly affects the large intestine and rectum, or Crohn’s disease, which affects the small intestine. While the exact cause of IBD is unknown, evidence suggests that the gut microbiome plays a crucial role in influencing IBD immune responses. However, the exact microbes, molecular mechanisms, or enzymes involved in this process are unknown and warrant further exploration.

Bacteroides that secrete the gut enzyme Salicin are a dominant species found in the microbiota of the western human gut and other bacteria species in the gut microbiome. However, their exact role in IBD is unknown and warrants further exploration for use as a potential therapeutic/treatment target for IBD.

Technology Overview

Boston Children’s Hospital researchers have provided evidence to support how the gut enzyme Salicin plays a crucial role in maintaining the gut microbiome along with detailed explanations of the various molecular mechanisms involved. The inventors have also described how Salicin metabolism by the gut microbiome affects intestinal homeostasis and can aid in the development of new bioengineered and targeted personalized therapeutics or supplements for IBD.

Applications

Microbiome-targeting therapeutics could be used as either adjunctive therapies or monotherapies, depending on efficacy

• Synbiotic Therapeutic: Delivery of small molecule (salicin) for targeted activation of Bacteroides in the colon 
• A personalized targeted molecule or Probiotic with bioengineered Bacteroids with anti-IBD molecules to increase salicin-activating enzymes and decrease IBD immune responses via effects on different cells

Benefits

• The growing increase of IBD and understanding of the gut microbiome has generated a gateway for developing novel therapeutics that can influence or improve gut homeostasis. However, molecular mechanisms influencing gut microbiome health and enzyme metabolism are not well-understood.
• In-vivo studies and structural analysis that led to the discovery of enzymes or factors affecting their bioactivation offers a huge advantage in developing bioengineered molecules that can be used as synbiotic agents to improve gut health for IBD

Publications

Kuziel GA, Rakoff-Nahoum S. The gut microbiome. Curr Biol. 2022 Mar 28;32(6):R257-R264. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.02.023. PMID: 35349808