Virginie Millet, Thomas Gensollen, Michael Maltese, Melanie Serrero, Nathalie Lesavre, Christophe Bourges, Christophe Pitaval, Sophie Cadra, Lionel Chasson, Thien Phong Vu Man, Marion Masse, Juan Jose Martinez-Garcia, Fabrice Tranchida, Laetitia Shintu, Konrad Mostert, Erick Strauss, Patricia Lepage, Mathias Chamaillard, Achille Broggi, Laurent Peyrin-Biroulet, Jean-Charles Grimaud, Philippe Naquet, Franck Galland, Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille - Luminy (CIML), Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Harvard Medical School [Boston] (HMS), Brigham & Women’s Hospital [Boston] (BWH), Service de Gastro-entérologie [CHU Hôpital Nord - Marseille], Hôpital Nord [CHU - APHM]-Assistance publique Hôpitaux de Marseille (APHM), CIC - Hôpital Nord AP-HM Marseille, The Francis Crick Institute [London], Centre d’Infection et d’Immunité de Lille - INSERM U 1019 - UMR 9017 - UMR 8204 (CIIL), Institut Pasteur de Lille, Réseau International des Instituts Pasteur (RIIP)-Réseau International des Instituts Pasteur (RIIP)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Université de Lille-Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire [Lille] (CHRU Lille)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut des Sciences Moléculaires de Marseille (ISM2), Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-École Centrale de Marseille (ECM)-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Stellenbosch University, MICrobiologie de l'ALImentation au Service de la Santé (MICALIS), AgroParisTech-Université Paris-Saclay-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Nutrition-Génétique et Exposition aux Risques Environnementaux (NGERE), Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Université de Lorraine (UL), Service d’Hépato-gastro-entérologie et oncologie digestive [Hôpital Nord, AP-HM], and Hôpital Nord [CHU - APHM]
ObjectiveIn the management of patients with IBD, there is a need to identify prognostic markers and druggable biological pathways to improve mucosal repair and probe the efficacy of tumour necrosis factor alpha biologics. Vnn1 is a pantetheinase that degrades pantetheine to pantothenate (vitamin B5, a precursor of coenzyme A (CoA) biosynthesis) and cysteamine. Vnn1 is overexpressed by inflamed colonocytes. We investigated its contribution to the tolerance of the intestinal mucosa to colitis-induced injury.DesignWe performed an RNA sequencing study on colon biopsy samples from patients with IBD stratified according to clinical severity and modalities of treatment. We generated the VIVA mouse transgenic model, which specifically overexpresses Vnn1 on intestinal epithelial cells and explored its susceptibility to colitis. We developed a pharmacological mimicry of Vnn1 overexpression by administration of Vnn1 derivatives.ResultsVNN1 overexpression on colonocytes correlates with IBD severity. VIVA mice are resistant to experimentally induced colitis. The pantetheinase activity of Vnn1 is cytoprotective in colon: it enhances CoA regeneration and metabolic adaptation of colonocytes; it favours microbiota-dependent production of short chain fatty acids and mostly butyrate, shown to regulate mucosal energetics and to be reduced in patients with IBD. This prohealing phenotype is recapitulated by treating control mice with the substrate (pantethine) or the products of pantetheinase activity prior to induction of colitis. In severe IBD, the protection conferred by the high induction of VNN1 might be compromised because its enzymatic activity may be limited by lack of available substrates. In addition, we identify the elevation of indoxyl sulfate in urine as a biomarker of Vnn1 overexpression, also detected in patients with IBD.ConclusionThe induction of Vnn1/VNN1 during colitis in mouse and human is a compensatory mechanism to reinforce the mucosal barrier. Therefore, enhancement of vitamin B5-driven metabolism should improve mucosal healing and might increase the efficacy of anti-inflammatory therapy.