Commensal-pathogen dynamics structure disease outcomes during Clostridioides difficile colonization.

ABSTRACT: Gastrointestinal colonization by Clostridioides difficile is common in healthcare settings and ranges in presentation from asymptomatic carriage to lethal C. difficile infection (CDI). We used a systems biology approach to investigate why patients colonized with C. difficile have a range of clinical outcomes. Microbiota humanization of germ-free mice with fecal samples from toxigenic C. difficile carriers revealed a spectrum of virulence among clinically prevalent clade 1 lineages and identified candidate taxa, including Blautia, as markers of stable colonization. Using gnotobiotic mice engrafted with defined human microbiota, we validated strain-specific CDI severity across clade 1 strains isolated from patients. Mice engrafted with a community broadly representative of colonized patients

SUBMITTER: Fishbein SRS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11717617 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature