Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO)


Print Feedback Export to File
11924260 
Journal Article 
Alteration in Urease-producing Bacteria in the Gut Microbiomes of Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases 
Ryvchin, R; Dubinsky, V; Rabinowitz, K; Wasserberg, N; Dotan, I; Gophna, U 
2021 
Yes 
Journal of Crohn's and Colitis
ISSN: 1873-9946 
15 
12 
2066-2077 
English 
34111242 
has retraction 11894958 Withdrawn: Expression of Concern
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Bacterial urease is a major virulence factor of human pathogens, and murine models have shown that it can contribute to the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases [IBD].

METHODS: The distribution of urease-producing bacteria in IBD was assessed using public faecal metagenomic data from various cohorts, including non-IBD controls [n = 55], patients with Crohn's disease [n = 291] or ulcerative colitis [n = 214], and patients with a pouch [n = 53]. The ureA gene and the taxonomic markers gyrA, rpoB, and recA were used to estimate the percentage of urease producers in each sample.

RESULTS: Levels of urease producers in patients with IBD and non-IBD controls were comparable. In non-IBD controls and most IBD patients, urease producers were primarily acetate-producing genera such as Blautia and Ruminococcus. A shift in the type of the dominant urease producers towards Proteobacteria and Bacilli was observed in a subset of all IBD subtypes, which correlated with faecal calprotectin levels in one cohort. Some patients with IBD had no detectable urease producers. In patients with a pouch, the probiotic-associated species Streptococcus thermophilus was more common as a main urease producer than in other IBD phenotypes, and it generally did not co-occur with other Bacilli or with Proteobacteria.

CONCLUSIONS: Unlike all non-IBD controls, patients with IBD often showed a shift towards Bacilli or Proteobacteria or a complete loss of urease production. Probiotics containing the species S. thermophilus may have a protective effect against colonisation by undesirable urease-producing bacteria in a subset of patients with a pouch.