Functional characterization of duodenal microbiota and associated enteropathy in undernourished Bangladeshi women and gnotobiotic mice
- 1Washington University School of Medicine
Abstract
Undernutrition is an intergenerational global health challenge. Environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) is a small intestinal (SI) disorder characterized by villous atrophy, gut barrier dysfunction, malabsorption and systemic inflammation. To examine its pathogenesis and role in undernutrition, we performed esophagogastroduodenoscopy on undernourished Bangladeshi women with EED and their healthy counterparts. Histologic characterization of duodenal mucosal biopsies, aptamer-based proteomic analyses of their duodenal mucosa and plasma, plus metagenomic analyses of their duodenal and fecal microbiota, revealed associations between bacterial taxa and duodenal tissue and plasma proteomes indicative of EED. Colonization of germ-free female mice with consortia of cultured duodenal bacteria from these women, followed by measurements of SI bacterial abundances, SI cellular patterns of gene expression (single nucleus RNA-seq), plus proteomic and flow cytometric analyses disclosed bacterial, epithelial, and immune features of EED in dams and their offspring resembling those in the women. These findings have diagnostic and therapeutic implications.
One Sentence SummaryBacteria-protein associations in the small intestine underlying pathogenesis of environmental enteric dysfunction in undernourished Bangladeshi women.
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BibTeX
@misc{pruss2026functional,
title = {{Functional characterization of duodenal microbiota and associated enteropathy in undernourished Bangladeshi women and gnotobiotic mice}},
author = {K. M. Pruss and Z. L. Chang and M. S. Hossain and M. M. Rahman and M. Mahfuz and R. Coskun and R. Sharmin and A. Rezwan and S. A. Sarker and S. Das and S. M. Fahim and M. A. Gazi and K. A. Hudson and A. M. Rodriguez and H. Liu and R. Kitchen and A. E. Byrne and C. Kao and B. Brodrick and A. Rose and B. Bhattarai and D. Khantakova and J. Fachi and M. Colonna and T. Ahmed and M. J. Barratt and J. I. Gordon},
howpublished = {medRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.64898/2026.08.14.26360472},
url = {https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.14.26360472v2},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Functional characterization of duodenal microbiota and associated enteropathy in undernourished Bangladeshi women and gnotobiotic mice
AU - K. M. Pruss
AU - Z. L. Chang
AU - M. S. Hossain
AU - M. M. Rahman
AU - M. Mahfuz
AU - R. Coskun
AU - R. Sharmin
AU - A. Rezwan
AU - S. A. Sarker
AU - S. Das
AU - S. M. Fahim
AU - M. A. Gazi
AU - K. A. Hudson
AU - A. M. Rodriguez
AU - H. Liu
AU - R. Kitchen
AU - A. E. Byrne
AU - C. Kao
AU - B. Brodrick
AU - A. Rose
AU - B. Bhattarai
AU - D. Khantakova
AU - J. Fachi
AU - M. Colonna
AU - T. Ahmed
AU - M. J. Barratt
AU - J. I. Gordon
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/14
PB - medRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.08.14.26360472
UR - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.14.26360472v2
AB - Undernutrition is an intergenerational global health challenge. Environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) is a small intestinal (SI) disorder characterized by villous atrophy, gut barrier dysfunction, malabsorption and systemic inflammation. To examine its pathogenesis and role in undernutrition, we performed esophagogastroduodenoscopy on undernourished Bangladeshi women with EED and their healthy counterparts. Histologic characterization of duodenal mucosal biopsies, aptamer-based proteomic analyses of their duodenal mucosa and plasma, plus metagenomic analyses of their duodenal and fecal microbiota, revealed associations between bacterial taxa and duodenal tissue and plasma proteomes indicative of EED. Colonization of germ-free female mice with consortia of cultured duodenal bacteria from these women, followed by measurements of SI bacterial abundances, SI cellular patterns of gene expression (single nucleus RNA-seq), plus proteomic and flow cytometric analyses disclosed bacterial, epithelial, and immune features of EED in dams and their offspring resembling those in the women. These findings have diagnostic and therapeutic implications. One Sentence SummaryBacteria-protein associations in the small intestine underlying pathogenesis of environmental enteric dysfunction in undernourished Bangladeshi women.
ER -