Early-life exposures to specific commensal microbes prevent type 1 diabetes.

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Presentation Time: 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM
Poster Board Number: B625
Abstract ID: 5516

Presenting Author:
Jamal Green , MD/PhD Trainee at Univ. of Pennsylvania Perelman Sch. of Med., Children's Hosp. of Philadelphia

Abstract:

Early-life disruptions of the gut microbiome have long-lasting impacts on the risk for developing autoimmune diseases, yet how the composition of the early-life microbiota contributes to autoimmunity and whether manipulating it can prove therapeutically beneficial remains largely unexplored. Here we find that a simple consortium of 9 culturable bacteria (PedsCom) that dominate the early-life microbiome of diabetes-protected animals confers protection from developing type 1 diabetes (T1D) in NOD mice. Remarkably, this protection from developing T1D is completely dependent on early-life colonization of NOD mice by PedsCom, thereby demonstrating a critical time window in which specific commensal microbes induce tolerance. During this time window, specific microbes translocate from the gut to peripheral tissues, induce tolerogenic responses, and are required for protection from T1D, suggesting that changes in localization of specific microbes during this developmental window contribute to protection from autoimmunity. These findings have implications for developing microbial therapies that target the early-life microbiome.