E. coli-mediated gut inflammation in genetically predisposed Crohn's disease patients.

Many advances have been made in the understanding of Crohn's disease (CD) pathogenesis over the last decade. In CD patients abnormal ileal bacterial colonization could be linked to inappropriate innate immune responses to invasive bacteria. Adherent and invasive Escherichia coli strains have been isolated from CD patients and are able to adhere to and to invade intestinal epithelial cells and to induce colitis in transgenic mice expressing the human CEACAM6 molecule. In this review, we report recent advances concerning the involvement of adherent-invasive E. coli in the aetiology of CD and analyze how they can initiate inflammation of the gut mucosa in individuals with genetic predisposition.