Back

Microbial-associated acylated putrescines as immunomodulatory molecules in inflammatory bowel diseases

Bae, S.; Avila-Pacheco, J.; Clay, S. L.; Bang, S.; Scott, M. C.; Andreeva, N.; Michaud, M.; Fonseca-Pereira, D.; Chun, E.; Cao, Y. G.; Zhang, Y.; Bhosle, A.; Perez, R. M.; Pishchany, G.; Vlamakis, H.; El Tekle, G.; Morgan, X. C.; Chen, S. P.; Glickman, J. N.; Xavier, R. J.; Graham, D. B.; Clish, C. B.; Clardy, J.; Franzosa, E. A.; Huttenhower, C.; Garrett, W. S.

2026-08-25 immunology
10.64898/2026.08.24.746719 bioRxiv
Show abstract

The gut microbiota regulates intestinal immunity through metabolite production, yet most disease-associated metabolites remain functionally uncharacterized. In inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), where the microbial metabolome is profoundly altered, we identify N-acyl putrescines as microbiome-associated metabolites enriched across two independent cohorts. N-oleoylputrescine (NOP) emerges as the primary immunomodulatory candidate, inducing robust transcriptional responses in dendritic cells and colonic organoids. Enterocloster species harboring nonribosomal peptide synthetase gene clusters synthesize NOP, confirmed by isotope-tracing in vitro and germ-free mouse colonization in vivo. NOP suppresses core IBD inflammatory pathways in mouse dendritic cells and human monocytes, reducing signatures of histologic inflammation and therapy non-response. NOP dampens inflammation in four colitis models, decreases myeloid cell NF-{kappa}B activation, and suppresses type 1 immune responses through a T cell-intrinsic mechanism. That NOP accumulates in IBD despite its anti-inflammatory properties reveals a holobiont defense strategy: the gut microbiota deploys immunomodulatory metabolites as a compensatory response to restore homeostasis.

Matching journals

The top 7 journals account for 50% of the predicted probability mass.

50% of probability mass above

"Similar papers" are the closest papers from that journal in the model's embedding space. They show what the match is built on, but the ranking comes mostly from a classifier over the whole training set, not from these examples alone.