The role of inflammation in temporal shifts in the inflammatory bowel disease mucosal microbiome.

Studies of the human intestinal microbiome in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) consistently show that there are differences (an abnormal or unbalanced microbiome, "dysbiosis") when compared to healthy subjects. We sought to describe changes in the microbiome in individual patients over time, and determine the clinical factors that are associated with significant alteration. Forty-two mucosal biopsies were collected from 20 patients that were spaced an average of 2.