TY - JOUR
T1 - Necrotizing enterocolitis and preterm infant gut bacteria
AU - Warner, Barbara B.
AU - Tarr, Phillip I.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by NIH Grants UH3AI083265, P30DK052574 (for the Biobank Core) and the Children's Discovery Institute of Washington University and the St Louis Children's Hospital. We are grateful to Ms Maida Redzic for assistance with manuscript preparation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2016/12/1
Y1 - 2016/12/1
N2 - Necrotizing enterocolitis remains an intractable consequence of preterm birth. Gut microbial communities, especially bacterial communities, have long been suspected to play a role in the development of necrotizing enterocolitis. Direct-from-stool nucleic acid sequencing technology now offers insights into the make-up of these communities. Data are now converging on the roles of Gram-negative bacteria as causative agents, despite the dynamic nature of bacterial populations, the varying technologies and sampling strategies, and the overall small sample sizes in these case–control studies. Bacteria that confer protection from necrotizing enterocolitis have not been identified across studies. The beneficial effect of probiotics is not apparent in infants with birth weights <1000 g (these infants are at greatest risk of, and have the highest case fatality rate from, necrotizing enterocolitis). Further work should be directed to the modulating gut microbes, or the products they produce, to prevent this devastating complication of preterm birth.
AB - Necrotizing enterocolitis remains an intractable consequence of preterm birth. Gut microbial communities, especially bacterial communities, have long been suspected to play a role in the development of necrotizing enterocolitis. Direct-from-stool nucleic acid sequencing technology now offers insights into the make-up of these communities. Data are now converging on the roles of Gram-negative bacteria as causative agents, despite the dynamic nature of bacterial populations, the varying technologies and sampling strategies, and the overall small sample sizes in these case–control studies. Bacteria that confer protection from necrotizing enterocolitis have not been identified across studies. The beneficial effect of probiotics is not apparent in infants with birth weights <1000 g (these infants are at greatest risk of, and have the highest case fatality rate from, necrotizing enterocolitis). Further work should be directed to the modulating gut microbes, or the products they produce, to prevent this devastating complication of preterm birth.
KW - Gammaproteobacteria
KW - Necrotizing enterocolitis
KW - Preterm infant
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84995610979&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.siny.2016.06.001
DO - 10.1016/j.siny.2016.06.001
M3 - Review article
C2 - 27343151
AN - SCOPUS:84995610979
SN - 1744-165X
VL - 21
SP - 394
EP - 399
JO - Seminars in Fetal and Neonatal Medicine
JF - Seminars in Fetal and Neonatal Medicine
IS - 6
ER -