Annefleur D O Hensen, Maria J G T Vehreschild, Dale N Gerding, Oleg Krut, Wilbur Chen, Vincent B Young, Saul Tzipori, Philipp Solbach, Malick Mahdi Gibani, Christopher Chiu, Sigrid C J de Keersmaecker, Dileep Dasyam, Sandra Morel, Jeanne-Marie Devaster, Nicoletta Corti, Ed J Kuijper, Meta Roestenberg, Wiep Klaas Smits
{"title":"How to develop a controlled human infection model for Clostridioides difficile.","authors":"Annefleur D O Hensen, Maria J G T Vehreschild, Dale N Gerding, Oleg Krut, Wilbur Chen, Vincent B Young, Saul Tzipori, Philipp Solbach, Malick Mahdi Gibani, Christopher Chiu, Sigrid C J de Keersmaecker, Dileep Dasyam, Sandra Morel, Jeanne-Marie Devaster, Nicoletta Corti, Ed J Kuijper, Meta Roestenberg, Wiep Klaas Smits","doi":"10.1016/j.cmi.2024.08.025","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) remains the leading cause of healthcare-associated diarrhoea, posing treatment challenges because of antibiotic resistance and high relapse rates. Faecal microbiota transplantation is a novel treatment strategy to prevent relapses of C. difficile infection (CDI), however, the exact components conferring colonization resistance are unknown, hampering its translation to a medicinal product. The development of novel products independent of antibiotics, which increase colonization resistance or induce protective immune mechanisms is urgently needed.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To establish a framework for a Controlled Human Infection Model (CHIM) of C. difficile, in which healthy volunteers are exposed to toxigenic C. difficile spores, offering the possibility to test novel approaches and identify microbiota and immunological targets. Whereas experimental exposure to non-toxigenic C. difficile has been done before, a toxigenic C. difficile CHIM faces ethical, scientific, logistical, and biosafety challenges.</p><p><strong>Sources: </strong>Specific challenges in developing a C. difficile CHIM were discussed by a group of international experts during a workshop organized by Inno4Vac, an Innovative Health Initiative-funded consortium.</p><p><strong>Content: </strong>The experts agreed that the main challenges are: developing a clinically relevant CHIM that induces mild to moderate CDI symptoms but not severe CDI, determining the optimal C. difficile inoculum dose, and understanding the timing and duration of antibiotic pretreatment in inducing susceptibility to CDI in healthy volunteers.</p><p><strong>Implications: </strong>Should these challenges be tackled, a C. difficile CHIM will not only provide a way forward for the testing of novel products but also offer a framework for a better understanding of the pathophysiology, pathogenesis, and immunology of C. difficile colonization and infection.</p>","PeriodicalId":10444,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Microbiology and Infection","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Clinical Microbiology and Infection","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmi.2024.08.025","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"INFECTIOUS DISEASES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) remains the leading cause of healthcare-associated diarrhoea, posing treatment challenges because of antibiotic resistance and high relapse rates. Faecal microbiota transplantation is a novel treatment strategy to prevent relapses of C. difficile infection (CDI), however, the exact components conferring colonization resistance are unknown, hampering its translation to a medicinal product. The development of novel products independent of antibiotics, which increase colonization resistance or induce protective immune mechanisms is urgently needed.
Objectives: To establish a framework for a Controlled Human Infection Model (CHIM) of C. difficile, in which healthy volunteers are exposed to toxigenic C. difficile spores, offering the possibility to test novel approaches and identify microbiota and immunological targets. Whereas experimental exposure to non-toxigenic C. difficile has been done before, a toxigenic C. difficile CHIM faces ethical, scientific, logistical, and biosafety challenges.
Sources: Specific challenges in developing a C. difficile CHIM were discussed by a group of international experts during a workshop organized by Inno4Vac, an Innovative Health Initiative-funded consortium.
Content: The experts agreed that the main challenges are: developing a clinically relevant CHIM that induces mild to moderate CDI symptoms but not severe CDI, determining the optimal C. difficile inoculum dose, and understanding the timing and duration of antibiotic pretreatment in inducing susceptibility to CDI in healthy volunteers.
Implications: Should these challenges be tackled, a C. difficile CHIM will not only provide a way forward for the testing of novel products but also offer a framework for a better understanding of the pathophysiology, pathogenesis, and immunology of C. difficile colonization and infection.
期刊介绍:
Clinical Microbiology and Infection (CMI) is a monthly journal published by the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. It focuses on peer-reviewed papers covering basic and applied research in microbiology, infectious diseases, virology, parasitology, immunology, and epidemiology as they relate to therapy and diagnostics.