Host gut resistome in Gulf War chronic multisymptom illness correlates with persistent inflammation

  • Dipro Bose
  • , Somdatta Chatterjee
  • , Ethan Older
  • , Ratanesh Seth
  • , Patricia Janulewicz
  • , Punnag Saha
  • , Ayan Mondal
  • , Jeffrey M. Carlson
  • , Alan W. Decho
  • , Kimberly Sullivan
  • , Nancy Klimas
  • , Stephen Lasley
  • , Jie Li
  • , Saurabh Chatterjee

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Chronic multisymptom illness (CMI) affects a subsection of elderly and war Veterans and is associated with systemic inflammation. Here, using a mouse model of CMI and a group of Gulf War (GW) Veterans’ with CMI we show the presence of an altered host resistome. Results show that antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are significantly altered in the CMI group in both mice and GW Veterans when compared to control. Fecal samples from GW Veterans with persistent CMI show a significant increase of resistance to a wide class of antibiotics and exhibited an array of mobile genetic elements (MGEs) distinct from normal healthy controls. The altered resistome and gene signature is correlated with mouse serum IL-6 levels. Altered resistome in mice also is correlated strongly with intestinal inflammation, decreased synaptic plasticity, reversible with fecal microbiota transplant (FMT). The results reported might help in understanding the risks to treating hospital acquired infections in this population.

Original languageEnglish
Article number552
JournalCommunications Biology
Volume5
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Medicine (miscellaneous)
  • General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

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