Microbiome-derived disaccharide for colitis

A peptidoglycan-based disaccharide, GlcNAc-MurNAc, produced by commensal gut microbes including Bacteroides could help treat colitis by acting as a weak TLR4 agonist that primes the immune system in a way that suppresses excessive inflammatory responses to subsequent stimuli, thereby maintaining gut homeostasis.

An untargeted mass spectrometry analysis of peptidoglycan byproducts in fecal samples from multiple human cohorts identified N-acetylglucosamine-β−1,4-N-acetylmuramic acid (GlcNAc-MurNAc) in every sample. In mouse and human innate immune cell lines, the metabolite showed non-canonical, dose-dependent immunostimulatory functions via TLR4 signaling. ...