Testing of personalised interventions aimed at restoring the intestinal flora in ME/CFS

Project description

Within this project, laboratory models are being developed, in which the composition of the intestinal flora of ME/CFS patients is representative of the composition in the large intestine. With the laboratory models, various interventions aimed at restoring the intestinal flora are tested. The research will show which intervention has an effect on the composition of the intestinal flora and which intervention has an effect on the production of substances (microbial metabolites). The results can provide insight into the differences between ME/CFS patients based on their intestinal flora and laboratory models. This can help to tailor an intervention, aimed at the restoration of the intestinal flora, to each patient and to set the course for more patient-oriented clinical research.

The researchers hope to answer the following questions:

1) What types of laboratory models can be developed to study the intestinal flora of ME/CFS patients outside the body?

2) What happens in these laboratory models when interventions to restore the intestinal flora are administered?

3) What substances (metabolites) are produced by the bacteria in the intestines of people with ME/CFS, both in the laboratory and during treatment?

4) How do the substances (metabolites) affect the barrier of the intestinal wall in a laboratory model?

5) How can the clinical data be linked to the data from the laboratory so that the right intervention can be developed for each group of patients to restore the intestinal flora?

The project starts with an in-depth analysis of the intestinal flora in ME/CFS patients. For this purpose, information and protocols available in the ME/CFS Lines consortium are used. At the same time, work is being done on the development of laboratory models. This requires the collection of stool samples.

Samples are collected within a group of 100 severely affected ME/CFS patients. In addition, another research group is deployed to collect 150 samples from ME/CFS patients with varying degrees of severity of the disease and 150 samples from healthy controls. In addition to collecting samples, biomedical measurements are carried out and information is collected via questionnaires. For example, the role of intestinal flora in relation to symptoms experienced by ME/CFS patients is investigated. The collected samples form the basis for the laboratory models, where the composition of intestinal flora remains similar to that in the body.

Two models are used to conduct research. The first model, the i-screen model, measures certain properties of the bacteria that grow in it and how they react to probiotics and prebiotics, for example. The second model, the InTEStine™ model, grows intestinal tissue in a special arrangement. This is done to investigate how the intestinal wall works and how the substances produced by the bacteria affect the intestinal tissue.

Description adapted from project website: see link above.