Acid-suppressive medication and incidence of chronic childhood immune-mediated diseases: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Use of acid-suppressive medications (ASMs), for example, proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and histamine-2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs), has been rising along with the incidence of pediatric immune-mediated diseases (IMDs). We conducted a scoping review to characterize the literature about prenatal or pediatric exposure to ASMs in relation to incident pediatric IMDs. METHODS: Electronic searches were conducted to identify studies from 2001 to 2023 on (a) prenatal or pediatric exposure to PPIs and/or H2RAs and (b) the risk of developing chronic IMDs during childhood. Eligible studies after title/abstract and full-text screening underwent data abstraction. RESULTS: Of 26 eligible studies, 11 focused on prenatal ASM exposure and 16 on pediatric exposure. Asthma was the most commonly investigated outcome (16 studies), followed by other allergic diseases (8), eosinophilic esophagitis (3), inflammatory bowel disease (2), and other autoimmune diseases (2). Positive associations between ASM exposure and pediatric IMD outcomes emerged in all but two recent studies, which reported null or negative associations with allergic diseases. The strength of associations was similar across exposure times (prenatal/pediatric), medications (PPIs/H2RAs), and outcomes. Dose-response relationships were often present (7/11 studies). Reported effects by trimester and age of exposure varied. Commonly reported limitations were residual confounding, exposure misclassification, and outcome misclassification. CONCLUSION: In summary, prenatal or pediatric exposure to PPIs and/or H2RAs has frequently, but not exclusively, been associated with the development of asthma, other allergic diseases, and chronic gastrointestinal IMDs. However, concerns remain about confounding and other sources of bias. Prescribers and families should be aware of these possible risks of ASMs.

Outcomes and Safety of Blenderized Tube Feedings in Pediatric Patients: A Single Center's Experience.

INTRODUCTION: Recently, significant interest from families and healthcare providers has arisen to use blenderized tube feedings (BTF). Although many institutions are providing this nutritional option, literature documenting outcomes and safety is lacking. METHODS: A retrospective chart review was performed on pediatric patients receiving BTF at Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital between January 2013 and April 2017. Demographic data and dietary information before and after BTF were collected. Reasons for diet initiation, symptoms, and anthropometrics were recorded. Adverse events and outcomes were assessed through physician documentation and relevant medication changes. RESULTS: Thirty-five patients (24 boys) received BTF. Age at initiation of BTF ranged from 1 to 19 years (mean 8.3 +/- 5.8 [SD] years). Length of follow-up ranged from 1 to 45 months (mean 15 +/- 12.2 months). The most common reason for starting BTF was gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) (N = 32). Almost all patients were on medications for GERD, constipation, or gastrointestinal dysmotility before starting BTF (N = 33). Majority of patients had improvement in relevant symptoms (N = 20); 13 of 33 patients on gastrointestinal medications were able to wean or stop medication(s). BMI z scores did not differ before and after BTF initiation (P = 0.558). No serious life-threatening adverse events were found. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that BTF is a safe dietary intervention that may improve gastrointestinal symptoms in pediatric patients. Further prospective studies are needed to compare safety and efficacy of BTF and commercial formulas in pediatric patients.

Percutaneous Transhepatic Cholangioplasty to Treat Multiple Intrahepatic Biliary Strictures After Hepatoportoenterostomy.

In children with biliary atresia, hepatoportoenterostomy (HP) is recommended to improve bile flow. Biliary strictures are known potential complications after HP, which can again impair bile flow often leading to biliary cirrhosis and liver transplantation. In patients who are status post HP and have biliary strictures, nonsurgical therapeutic options such as endoscopic dilation can pose technical difficulties due to altered anatomy. Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography with cholangioplasty is a valuable tool for obstructive cholangiopathies, but to our knowledge this has not been previously demonstrated to be successful in patients with multiple intrahepatic biliary strictures status post HP. Herein, we present 3 patients status post HP who presented with multiple intrahepatic biliary strictures and underwent successful percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography with cholangioplasty.

Antibiotics in the pathogenesis of diabetes and inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

Antibiotic use is increasing worldwide. However, the use of antibiotics is clearly associated with changes in gut microbiome composition and function, and perturbations have been identified as potential environmental risk factors for chronic inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. In this Review, we examine the association between the use of antibiotics and the onset and development of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, as well as coeliac disease and eosinophilic oesophagitis. We discuss the key findings of epidemiological studies, provide mechanistic insights into the pathways by which the gut microbiota might contribute to these diseases, and assess clinical trials investigating the effects of antibiotics. Such studies indicate that antibiotic exposures, varying in type, timing and dosage, could explain differences in disease risk. There seems to be a critical window in early life in which perturbation of the microbiome has a substantial effect on disease development. Identifying the antibiotic-perturbed gut microbiota as a factor that contributes to the pathophysiology of these inflammatory disorders might stimulate new approaches to prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

Longitudinal Bile Acid Composition Changes Following Faecal Microbiota Transplantation for Clostridioides difficile Infection in Children With and Without Underlying Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Faecal microbiota transplant [FMT] is effective in treating recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection [CDI] and restores gut microbiota composition. This is unlikely to account for its entire mechanism of efficacy, as studies have shown that factors such as bile acids influence the risk of infection by affecting Clostridioides difficile germination. We therefore aimed to investigate longitudinal changes in the gut bile acid composition after FMT performed for recurrent CDI, in children with and without inflammatory bowel disease [IBD]. METHODS: Eight children received FMT; five had underlying IBD. Primary and secondary faecal bile acids were measured by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry in recipients [pre-FMT and longitudinally post-FMT for up to 6 months] and donors. RESULTS: Pre-FMT, recipients had higher primary and lower secondary bile acid proportions compared with donors. Post-FMT, there was a gradual increase of secondary and decrease of primary bile acids. Whereas gut bacterial diversity had been shown to be restored in all children shortly after FMT, normalisation of bile acids to donor levels occurred only by 6 months. In children with IBD, although microbiota diversity returned to pre-FMT levels within 6 months, secondary bile acids remained at donor levels. CONCLUSIONS: The differences in bile acid profiles compared with gut bacterial diversity post-FMT suggests that interactions between the two may be more complex than previously appreciated and may contribute to FMT efficacy in different ways. This initial finding demonstrates the need to further investigate gut metabolites in larger cohorts, with longitudinal sampling to understand the mechanisms of FMT effectiveness.

Influence of Age and Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus on Serological Test for Celiac Disease in Children.

PURPOSE: Serological tests of tissue transglutaminase (TTG) and deamidated gliadin (DGP) antibodies for celiac disease diagnosis show conflicting correlation with histology in young children and in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Tests' ability to predict histology and cutoff values based on age and T1DM was evaluated. METHODS: A retrospective study of children who had celiac serological tests between 6/1/2002 and 12/31/2014 at a pediatric hospital. RESULTS: TTG IgA displayed similar results in predicting histology between <4.0 and ≥4.0 years age groups with sensitivity 98% and 93%, and specificity 88% and 86%, respectively. In children <4.0 years old, sensitivity for DGP antibodies was 100% and specificity 94%; in ≥4.0 years age groups, sensitivity was 60%, 88% for DGP IgA and IgG and specificity 95%, 96%, respectively. TTG IgA had low specificity in patients with T1DM compared with non-T1DM, 42% vs. 91%. Positive TTG IgA with normal histology was associated with higher T1DM prevalence at 36% compared with negative tests at 4%. Finally, the TTG IgA cutoff value was higher in T1DM at 36 vs. 16.3 units in non-T1DM. DGP IgG cutoff showed similar values between age groups; TTG IgA and DGP IgA cutoffs were lower in <4.0 years at 8.3 and 11.9 units than ≥4.0 years at 23.4 and 19.9, respectively. CONCLUSION: TTG IgA is sufficient for the <4.0 years age group and DGP antibodies had no advantage over TTG IgA in older children. The cutoff value to determine a positive TTG IgA should be higher for children with T1DM.

Transmission and clearance of potential procarcinogenic bacteria during fecal microbiota transplantation for recurrent Clostridioides difficile.

BACKGROUNDFecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is an effective treatment for recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (rCDI) in adults and children, but donor stool samples are currently screened for only a limited number of potential pathogens. We sought to determine whether putative procarcinogenic bacteria (enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and Escherichia coli harboring the colibactin toxin) could be durably transmitted from donors to patients during FMT.METHODSStool samples were collected from 11 pediatric rCDI patients and their respective FMT donors prior to FMT as well as from the patients at 2-10 weeks, 10-20 weeks, and 6 months after FMT. Bacterial virulence factors in stool DNA extracts and stool cultures were measured by quantitative PCR: Bacteroides fragilis toxin (bft), Fusobacterium adhesin A (fadA), and Escherichia coli colibactin (clbB).RESULTSFour of 11 patients demonstrated sustained acquisition of a procarcinogenic bacteria. Whole genome sequencing was performed on colony isolates from one of these donor/recipient pairs and demonstrated that clbB+ E. coli strains present in the recipient after FMT were identical to a strain present in the donor, confirming strain transmission. Conversely, 2 patients exhibited clearance of procarcinogenic bacteria following FMT from a negative donor.CONCLUSIONBoth durable transmission and clearance of procarcinogenic bacteria occurred following FMT, suggesting that additional studies on appropriate screening measures for FMT donors and the long-term consequences and/or benefits of FMT are warranted.FUNDINGCrohn's & Colitis Foundation, the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the National Cancer Institute, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Fecal Transplant in Children With Clostridioides difficile Gives Sustained Reduction in Antimicrobial Resistance and Potential Pathogen Burden.

BACKGROUND: Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) treats Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI). Little is known regarding the changes in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes and potential pathogen burden that occur in pediatric recipients of FMT. The aim of this study was to investigate changes in AMR genes, potential pathogens, species, and functional pathways with FMT in children. METHODS: Nine children with recurrent CDI underwent FMT. Stool was collected from donor and recipient pre-FMT and longitudinally post-FMT for up to 24 weeks. Shotgun metagenomic sequencing was performed. Reads were analyzed using PathoScope 2.0. RESULTS: All children had resolution of CDI. AMR genes decreased post-FMT (P < .001), with a sustained decrease in multidrug resistance genes (P < .001). Tetracycline resistance genes increased post-FMT (P < .001). Very low levels of potential pathogens were identified in donors and recipients, with an overall decrease post-FMT (P < .001). Prevotella sp. 109 expanded in all recipients post-FMT, and no recipients had any clinical infection. Alpha diversity was lower in recipients vs donors pre-FMT (P < .001), with an increase post-FMT (P ≤ .002) that was sustained. Beta diversity differed significantly in pre- vs post-FMT recipient samples (P < .001). Bacterial species Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and Bacteroides ovatus showed higher abundance in donors than recipients (P = .008 and P = .040, respectively), with expansion post-FMT. Biosynthetic pathways predominated in the donor and increased in the recipient post-FMT. CONCLUSIONS: FMT for CDI in children decreases AMR genes and potential pathogens and changes microbiota composition and function. However, acquisition of certain AMR genes post-FMT combined with low levels of potential pathogens found in donors suggests that further study is warranted regarding screening donors using metagenomics sequencing before FMT.