Authors
Nazanin Arjomand Fard, John Maringa Githaka, Simona Veniamin, Le Luo Guan, Harmol Aujla, Amreen Kaur, E Paul Lerner, Deenaz Zaidi, Anissa M Armet, Joseph Andrews, Xiao Han, Bruce A Vallance, Karen Madsen, Troy Perry, Eytan Wine
Published in
American journal of physiology. Gastrointestinal and liver physiology. Jul 30, 2026. Epub Jul 30, 2026.
Abstract
The human appendix is traditionally considered a vestigial organ; however, clinical observations link it to inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including Crohn disease and ulcerative colitis (UC), as suggested by peri-appendicular inflammation and reported protective effect of appendectomy in UC. Despite these associations, its functional contribution remains poorly defined. Here, we performed a multi-omics analysis of appendix tissue from pediatric IBD patients and non-IBD surgical controls (n = 15) to characterize microbial composition and host molecular landscape. Metagenomic sequencing revealed Proteobacteria enrichment and reduced microbial diversity in IBD appendices. Correlations between host transcriptomes and mucus-associated microbial pathways indicated associations consistent with host-microbe interactions linked to immune activation. Fluorescence in situ hybridization confirmed bacterial localization, and functional assays of appendix-derived Klebsiella variicola isolates demonstrated invasive capacity in vitro. Our findings suggest that the appendix represents a distinct microbial niche in pediatric IBD and may contribute to host-microbe perturbations associated with disease.
PMID:
42531280
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 31 Jul 2026.
Read full publication at:
Please sign in
to see all details.
Advertisement
Stats
- Recommendations n/a n/a positive of 0 vote(s)
- Views 7
- Comments 0