Scientists Harness Bile-Converting Bacteria to Heal Damaged Colons - Video

The human gut is home to trillions of bacteria that play vital roles in digestion, immunity, and overall health. When this microbial balance is disturbed, it can contribute to the development of chronic diseases like ulcerative colitis (UC), an inflammatory condition of the large intestine. For some patients, current treatments offer limited relief or carry significant risks, including immune suppression. Researchers are now exploring alternative ways to restore gut health, focusing on the microbiome’s ability to heal the intestinal lining.

The research teams led by Kristina Schoonjans and Rizlan Bernier-Latmani at EPFL, have identified Clostridium scindens, a bacterium that converts primary bile acids into 7α-dehydroxylated bile acids, as a key player in gut healing. Their study shows that supplementing the gut with this bacterium could improve recovery from colonic injury, offering a new potential therapy for UC and related disorders.

The researchers found that these effects were dependent on TGR5, a receptor that responds to 7α-dehydroxylated bile acids, which stimulates the proliferation and differentiation of intestinal stem cells.

To further validate their findings, they analyzed patient data to determine whether similar mechanisms were at play in humans. They found that in UC patients, the lower levels of 7α-dehydroxylated bile acids strongly correlated with impaired intestinal cell renewal. This reinforces the link between bile acid metabolism and intestinal healing. “Our findings highlight the potential of microbiome-targeted strategies to modulate bile acid metabolism and promote gut healing,” says Antoine Jalil, the first author of the study.

Ref: Jalil A, Perin A et al. (2025). Bile acid 7α-dehydroxylating bacteria accelerate injury-induced mucosal healing in the colon. EMBO Molecular Medicine 10 March 2025. DOI: 10.1038/s44321-025-00202-w