IBD is commonly considered as an exaggerated immune response to the microbiota in a genetically susceptible host. This statement recognises the central role of the enteric microbiota in the pathogenesis of IBD. Consistently, in animal models of IBD, inflammation is not observed in the absence of live bacteria and distinct members of the microbiota differ in their potential to trigger disease. Patients with IBD present substantial changes of their microbiota commonly described as dysbiosis.
Already some years ago, the enteric commensal bacterium Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, a member of the Clostridium leptum group, was proposed to...