The role of vitamin D in treated and refractory ulcerative colitis patients: a case-control study.

Background: Ulcerative colitis is a form of chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) marked by ongoing inflammation of the mucosal lining that extends from the rectum to the upper part of the colon. Vitamin D regulates immune responses in several autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, including ulcerative colitis. Therefore, the study aims to investigate the role of vitamin D in the pathogenesis and treatment of ulcerative colitis.

The Potential of Bacteriophage Therapy as an Alternative Treatment Approach for Antibiotic-Resistant Infections.

Objective: This study aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of the literature on the therapeutical application of bacteriophages.

Methods: First, a bibliometric analysis was performed using the database Web of Science to determine annual number of publications and citations. Second, a systematic literature review was conducted on randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) of phage therapy in PubMed.

Gut virome profiling identifies an association between temperate phages and colorectal cancer promoted by infection.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide. While a close correlation between chronic infection and CRC has been reported, the role of the virome has been overlooked. Here, we infected -mutant mouse models and C57BL/6 mice with and conducted a comprehensive metagenomics analysis of -induced changes in lower gastrointestinal tract bacterial and viral communities.

Transplantation of bacteriophages from ulcerative colitis patients shifts the gut bacteriome and exacerbates the severity of DSS colitis.

Background: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are characterized by chronic and debilitating gut inflammation. Altered bacterial communities of the intestine are strongly associated with IBD initiation and progression. The gut virome, which is primarily composed of bacterial viruses (bacteriophages, phages), is thought to be an important factor regulating and shaping microbial communities in the gut.

Differences in Gut Virome Related to Barrett Esophagus and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma.

The relationship between viruses (dominated by bacteriophages or phages) and lower gastrointestinal (GI) tract diseases has been investigated, whereas the relationship between gut bacteriophages and upper GI tract diseases, such as esophageal diseases, which mainly include Barrett's esophagus (BE) and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), remains poorly described. This study aimed to reveal the gut bacteriophage community and their behavior in the progression of esophageal diseases. In total, we analyzed the gut phage community of sixteen samples from patients with esophageal diseases (six BE patients and four EAC patients) as well as six healthy controls.

Sewage and sewage-contaminated environments are the most prominent sources to isolate phages against Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Background: P. aeruginosa is the primary source of hospital-acquired infections. Unfortunately, antibiotic resistance is growing to precariously high levels, making the infections by this pathogen life-threatening and hard to cure.

Ménage à trois in the human gut: interactions between host, bacteria and phages.

The human gut is host to one of the densest microbial communities known, the gut microbiota, which contains bacteria, archaea, viruses, fungi and other microbial eukaryotes. Bacteriophages in the gut are largely unexplored, despite their potential to regulate bacterial communities and thus human health. In addition to helping us understand gut homeostasis, applying an ecological perspective to the study of bacterial and phage communities in the gut will help us to understand how this microbial system functions.