Butyrate may protect against graft-versus-host disease after bone marrow transplants, suggests animal research
From the article:
In a new study, published in Nature Immunology, researchers searched for alterations in the gut microbiome to see whether their metabolites could impact outcomes after BMT.
Enjoying this research? Get deeper insights like this delivered every other week.
Every other week our Premium Members receive deep dives like this alongside Rhonda's commentary and 8+ other hand-picked papers.
They found that a metabolite called butyrate was significantly reduced in the intestinal tract of experimental mice that received bone marrow transplant. When the researchers increased butyrate in these mouse models, they saw a decrease in the incidence and severity of graft vs. host disease.
“Our findings suggest we can prevent graft vs. host disease by bolstering the amount of the microbiome-derived metabolite butyrate,” says study lead author Pavan Reddy, M.D., the Moshe Talpaz Professor of Translational Pathology and interim division chief of hematology/oncology at the University of Michigan.