title: Childhood undernutrition, the gut microbiota, and microbiota-directed therapeutics.
abstract: Childhood undernutrition is a major global health challenge. Although current therapeutic approaches have reduced mortality in individuals with severe disease, they have had limited efficacy in ameliorating long-term sequelae, notably stunting, immune dysfunction, and neurocognitive deficits. Recent work is providing insights about the role of impaired development of the human gut microbiota in disease pathogenesis, leading to new concepts for treatment and prevention. These findings raise intriguing basic questions about the mechanisms that direct normal gut microbial community assembly and functional maturation. Designing and implementing new microbiota-directed therapeutics for undernutrition highlights the need to simultaneously consider a variety of features of human biology as well as broader societal issues.
authors.affiliation: Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. Center for Gut Microbiome and Nutrition Research, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Laura V
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Blanton
authors.affiliation: Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. Center for Gut Microbiome and Nutrition Research, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Barratt
authors.affiliation: Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. Center for Gut Microbiome and Nutrition Research, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Charbonneau
authors.affiliation: Nutrition and Clinical Services Division, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Tahmeed
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. Center for Gut Microbiome and Nutrition Research, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. jgordon@wustl.edu.
authors.forename: Jeffrey I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Gordon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D058491:Bacterial Load; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D000069196:Gastrointestinal Microbiome / Q000502:physiology*; D005856:Germ-Free Life; D006801:Humans; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000150:complications / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D051379:Mice; D059013:Microbial Consortia / Q000502:physiology*; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000737:chemistry; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D009844:Oligosaccharides