Influence of Gut Microbiota on Progression to Tuberculosis Generated by High Fat Diet-Induced Obesity in C3HeB/FeJ Mice

• Published in: Frontiers in immunology 2019-10, Vol.10, p.2464-2464
• Main Authors: Arias, Lilibeth, Goig, Galo Adrián, Cardona, Paula, Torres-Puente, Manuela, Díaz, Jorge, Rosales, Yaiza, Garcia, Eric, Tapia, Gustavo, Comas, Iñaki, Vilaplana, Cristina, Cardona, Pere-Joan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: BCG; comorbidity; high fat diet; Immunology; mice; obesity; tuberculosis
• ISSN: 1664-3224; 1664-3224
• DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2019.02464

The administration of a high fat content diet is an accelerating factor for metabolic syndrome, impaired glucose tolerance, and early type 2 diabetes. The present study aims to assess the impact of a high fat diet on tuberculosis progression and microbiota composition in an experimental animal model using a C3HeB/FeJ mouse strain submitted to single or multiple consecutive aerosol infections. These models allowed us to study the protection induced by Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccination as well as by the natural immunity induced by chemotherapy after a low dose infection. Our results show that a high fat diet is able to trigger a pro-inflammatory response, which results in a faster progression toward active tuberculosis and an impaired protective effect of BCG vaccination, which is not the case for natural immunity. This may be related to dysbiosis and a reduction in the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio in the gut microbiota caused by a decrease in the abundance of the Porphyromonadaceae family and, in particular, the genus. It should also be noted that a high fat diet is also related to an increase in the genera , and , which have previously been related to dysbiotic processes. As diabetes mellitus type 2 is a risk factor for developing tuberculosis, these findings may prove useful in the search for new prophylactic strategies for this population subset.