title: Inflammatory bowel disease as a model for translating the microbiome.
abstract: The inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are among the most closely studied chronic inflammatory disorders that involve environmental, host genetic, and commensal microbial factors. This combination of features has made IBD both an appropriate and a high-priority platform for translatable research in host-microbiome interactions. Decades of epidemiology have identified environmental risk factors, although most mechanisms of action remain unexplained. The genetic architecture of IBD has been carefully dissected in multiple large populations, identifying several responsible host epithelial and immune pathways but without yet a complete systems-level explanation. Most recently, the commensal gut microbiota have been found to be both ecologically and functionally perturbed during the disease, but with as-yet-unexplained heterogeneity among IBD subtypes and individual patients. IBD thus represents perhaps the most comprehensive current model for understanding the human microbiome's role in complex inflammatory disease. Here, we review the influences of the microbiota on IBD and its potential for translational medicine.
authors.affiliation: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Center for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA. Electronic address: chuttenh@hsph.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Curtis
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Huttenhower
authors.affiliation: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
authors.forename: Aleksandar D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Kostic
authors.affiliation: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Center for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA; Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA; Gastrointestinal Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA. Electronic address: xavier@molbio.mgh.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Ramnik J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Xavier
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D054892:Metagenome; D051379:Mice; D064307:Microbiota / Q000276:immunology*; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical