Fecal carbohydrate-degrading bacteria are associated with reduced incidence of lower gastrointestinal GVHD

Lower gastrointestinal graft-versus-host disease (LGI-GVHD) carries morbidity and mortality for patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT), with critical contributions from the intestinal microbiome. In a retrospective cohort of metagenomic sequencing of stool from patients with allo-HSCT (N = 90), we found that a reduction in specific Parabacteroides and Bacteroides species around the time of engraftment contributes to LGI-GVHD risk. Given the known diverse carbohydrate-degrading functionality of these bacteria, we investigated gene abundances for carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) and found that Parabacteroides merdae, P distasonis, and Bacteroides ovatus abundances were significantly correlated with CAZymes in patients who did not develop LGI-GVHD compared with those who did. The specific gene abundances of xylosidase, which contribute to the degradation of xylose-containing polysaccharides, were significantly associated with a reduced risk of LGI-GVHD. All these findings show the importance of the carbohydrate-degrading functionality of putative beneficial bacteria in mediating risk of LGI-GVHD.

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Publication Details

Journal
Blood Advances
Published
2026-01-20
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1182/bloodadvances.2025016780
Primary Topic
Gut microbiota and health
Type
article
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0.00
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article

Fecal carbohydrate-degrading bacteria are associated with reduced incidence of lower gastrointestinal GVHD

Tomo Hayase, Ivonne I. Flores, Rawan K. El-Himri, Israel Glover et al.
Blood Advances
Gut microbiota and health
article

Fecal carbohydrate-degrading bacteria are associated with reduced incidence of lower gastrointestinal GVHD

Tomo Hayase, Ivonne I. Flores, Rawan K. El-Himri, Israel Glover, Gabriela Rondón, Rishika Prasad, Eiko Hayase, Robert R. Jenq, Amin M. Alousi, Jennifer Ann Wargo, S. Ansar Ahmed, Taylor M. Halsey, Taha Al‐Juhaishi, Aqsa Mohammed, Jeffrey J. Molldrem, Cesar Andres Diaz Arias, Jennifer Karmouch, Lauren McDaniel, Alexandria Brown, Eric C. Martens, Maren Schmiester, Mohamed A. Jamal, Ashish Damania, Yimei Jin, Wen-Bin Tsai, Altai Enkhbayar, Chia-Chi Chang, Christopher Fan, Nadim J Ajami, Richard E Champlin, Christopher A Sanchez, Christine B Peterson, Elizabeth J Shpall, Miriam R Ortega
article en

Abstract

Lower gastrointestinal graft-versus-host disease (LGI-GVHD) carries morbidity and mortality for patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT), with critical contributions from the intestinal microbiome. In a retrospective cohort of metagenomic sequencing of stool from patients with allo-HSCT (N = 90), we found that a reduction in specific Parabacteroides and Bacteroides species around the time of engraftment contributes to LGI-GVHD risk. Given the known diverse carbohydrate-degrading functionality of these bacteria, we investigated gene abundances for carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) and found that Parabacteroides merdae, P distasonis, and Bacteroides ovatus abundances were significantly correlated with CAZymes in patients who did not develop LGI-GVHD compared with those who did. The specific gene abundances of xylosidase, which contribute to the degradation of xylose-containing polysaccharides, were significantly associated with a reduced risk of LGI-GVHD. All these findings show the importance of the carbohydrate-degrading functionality of putative beneficial bacteria in mediating risk of LGI-GVHD.

Blood AdvancesVol. 10(6)
Houston Methodist (US), City Of Hope National Medical Center (US), The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (US), Baylor College of Medicine (US), Cornell University (US), University of Michigan (US), Methodist Hospital (US), University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (US)
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 82%
Gut microbiota and health
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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