Development of fundamental technology for gut ecosystem regulation towards preventive and therapeutic medicine

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26660118
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Food science
• Research Institution: Keio University
• Principal Investigator: FUKUDA Shinji 慶應義塾大学, 政策・メディア研究科, 特任准教授 (80435677)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): SASAKI Erika 公益財団法人実験動物中央研究所, 応用発生学研究センター, センター長 (70390739)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 腸内細菌 / 腸内エコシステム / メタボローム / メタゲノム / 腸内デザイン / メタボロゲノミクス / 統合オミクス / 予防医学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The gut microbiota form a highly complex ecological community together with host intestinal cells. The so-called gut ecosystem has a profound influence on human physiology and pathology. It has been reported that imbalance in the structure of gut ecosystem could be a risk factor in human disorders including not only gut-associated disorders, but also systemic diseases. However, the molecular basis of the function of gut microbiota through host-microbial crosstalk remain obscure. To this end, we tried to development of fundamental technology for gut ecosystem regulation towards preventive and therapeutic medicine using non-human primate, common marmoset, due to the similarity of intestinal environment to human. Our experiments showed that antibiotics treatment followed by healthy fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) ameliorated chronic diarrhea in common marmoset, suggesting that the antibiotics and FMT combination method might be effective in human patient.

Free Research Field

腸内細菌学