Comparison of Crohn’s disease-associated adherent-invasive Escherichia coli (AIEC) from France and Hong Kong: results from the Pacific study
Caroline Chevarin,
Zhilu Xu,
Lucas Martin,
Frederic Robin,
Racha Beyrouthy,
Jean-Frédéric Colombel,
Alexander Sulakvelidze,
Siew C Ng,
Richard Bonnet,
Anthony Buisson,
Nicolas Barnich
Affiliations
Caroline Chevarin
Microbes, Intestin, Inflammation et Susceptibilité de l’Hôte (M2iSH), Université Clermont Auvergne/Inserm U1071, USC INRAE 1382, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Zhilu Xu
Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Institute of Digestive Disease, State Key Laboratory of Digestive Diseases, LKS Institute of Health Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Lucas Martin
Microbes, Intestin, Inflammation et Susceptibilité de l’Hôte (M2iSH), Université Clermont Auvergne/Inserm U1071, USC INRAE 1382, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Frederic Robin
Microbes, Intestin, Inflammation et Susceptibilité de l’Hôte (M2iSH), Université Clermont Auvergne/Inserm U1071, USC INRAE 1382, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Racha Beyrouthy
Microbes, Intestin, Inflammation et Susceptibilité de l’Hôte (M2iSH), Université Clermont Auvergne/Inserm U1071, USC INRAE 1382, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Jean-Frédéric Colombel
Department of Gastroenterology, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, NY, USA
Alexander Sulakvelidze
Intralytix, Inc, Columbia, MD, USA
Siew C Ng
Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Institute of Digestive Disease, State Key Laboratory of Digestive Diseases, LKS Institute of Health Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Richard Bonnet
Microbes, Intestin, Inflammation et Susceptibilité de l’Hôte (M2iSH), Université Clermont Auvergne/Inserm U1071, USC INRAE 1382, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Anthony Buisson
Microbes, Intestin, Inflammation et Susceptibilité de l’Hôte (M2iSH), Université Clermont Auvergne/Inserm U1071, USC INRAE 1382, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Nicolas Barnich
Microbes, Intestin, Inflammation et Susceptibilité de l’Hôte (M2iSH), Université Clermont Auvergne/Inserm U1071, USC INRAE 1382, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Association between ileal colonization by Adherent-Invasive Escherichia coli (AIEC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) has been widely described in high-incidence Western countries but remains unexplored in Asian countries with a fast increase in CD incidence. In the PACIFIC study, we compared the characteristics of AIEC pathobionts retrieved from ileal biopsies of CD patients enrolled in France (FR) and Hong Kong (HK). The prevalence of AIEC was similar in France (24.5%, 25/102) and Hong Kong (30.0%, 18/60) (p = 0.44). No difference was observed between the two populations of AIEC regarding adhesion and invasion levels. When tested for antibiotic resistance, the proportion of AIEC strains resistant to ampicillin, piperacillin, tobramycin, and gentamicin was significantly higher in HK AIEC strains compared to French strains. AIEC strains from FR or HK population were both able to persist in the mice intestine (DSS-treated CEABAC10 mice model). Moreover, genomic analysis of 25 FR and 17 hK AIEC strains using next-generation sequencing revealed the co-existence of several virulence factors associated with enteric E. coli pathotypes, although no single virulence factor was significantly associated with either country of origin or AIEC status. In vitro, all AIEC strains (FR and HK) were sensitive to the EcoActive™ phage cocktail, suggesting that it could be a promising option to target AIEC in CD across the world.
