Laure BINDELS, LDRI / UCL

Harnessing the therapeutic potential of the gut microbiota to target metabolic alterations:
beyond the usual suspects.

Abstract:

Gut microbiota collectively represents around 40 trillion microorganisms living in the gut and is nowadays considered a crucial regulator of host immunity and metabolism (Delzenne et al, Diabetologia 2015). Alterations of the gut microbiota are associated with the occurrence and/or evolution of several metabolic and inflammatory diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, inflammatory bowel diseases, asthma and allergies (Marchesi et al, Gut 2016).  The essential role of the gut microbiota for health has generated tremendous interest in modulating its composition and metabolic function.

I will present the results of a set of experiments dedicated to the systematic evaluation of the role of the gut microbiota in the health benefits conferred by resistant starches in metabolic syndrome. Resistant starches (RS) improve insulin resistance in human nutritional trials and animal experiments, and these benefits are often hypothesized to be mediated through modulation of the gut microbiota. Using comparative studies performed in conventionalized and germ-free mice fed a Western diet, we demonstrate that some metabolic benefits exerted by dietary RS, especially improvements in insulin levels, can occur independently of the microbiota. In the second part of my talk, I will present evidence for a role for the gut microbiota as a therapeutic target in cancer cachexia.

Both sets of studies will illustrate the use and interest of big data management and multivariate analyses to draw a comprehensive picture of a biological situation.