Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40885775›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2025

Engineered spermidine-secreting Saccharomyces boulardii ameliorates colitis and colon cancer in mice.

Mahdi Mohaqiq, Roger Palou, Ruizhen Li, Guijun Zhang, Het Vaishnav, Florance Parweez, Terence Moyana, Damian Carragher, D W Cameron, Timothy Ramsay and 5 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Engineered spermidine-secretingFrontiers in neuroscience · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors.

Mahdi Mohaqiq *Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L6, Canada.
Roger Palou *Program in Molecular Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, ON, M5G 0A4, Canada.
Ruizhen LiOttawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L6, Canada.
Guijun ZhangOttawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L6, Canada.
Het VaishnavOttawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L6, Canada.
Florance ParweezOttawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L6, Canada.
Terence MoyanaThe Ottawa Hospital IBD center, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L6, Canada.
Damian CarragherOttawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L6, Canada.
D W CameronOttawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L6, Canada.
Timothy RamsayOttawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L6, Canada.
Almer M van der SlootThe Quebec AI Institute, Mila, Montreal, QC, H2S 3H1, Canada.
Sanjay MurthyThe Ottawa Hospital IBD center, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L6, Canada.
Brian K CoombesMcMaster University, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada.
Mike TyersProgram in Molecular Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, ON, M5G 0A4, Canada. mike.tyers@sickkids.ca.
X Johné LiuOttawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L6, Canada. jliu@ohri.ca.

Funding

CIHR FDN-167277CIHR PJT-168891
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Experimental studies suggest that the probiotic yeast Saccharomyces boulardii can mitigate the symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease. However, these results are equivocal and S. boulardii probiotic therapy has not gained widespread acceptance in clinical practice. To assess whether the therapeutic properties of S. boulardii might be improved upon, we engineered S. boulardii to overproduce and secrete spermidine, a pro-regenerative natural metabolite. We employed CRISPR gene deletion and integration of gene cassettes at the Ty2 locus to achieve high level polyamine synthesis and transport. We tested whether spermidine secreting S. boulardii could reduce disease symptoms in dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) and azoxymethane induced models of intestinal inflammation and cancer. We demonstrate that oral delivery of spermidine-secreting S. boulardii in mice populates the gastrointestinal tract with viable spermidine-secreting S. boulardii cells and raises free spermidine levels in the gastrointestinal tract. Strikingly, spermidine-secreting S. boulardii strains were significantly more effective than wild-type S. boulardii in reducing colitis symptoms as well as colitis-associated carcinogenesis in mice. These results suggest that in situ spermidine secretion by engineered synthetic biotic yeast strains may be an effective and low-cost therapy to mitigate inflammatory bowel disease and associated colon cancer.

Indexed as

ColitisColonic NeoplasmsProbioticsSaccharomyces boulardiiSpermidineAnimalsAzoxymethaneDextran SulfateDisease Models, AnimalMiceMice, Inbred C57BLAzoxymethaneDextran SulfateSpermidineColitisColon cancerInflammatory bowel diseaseS. boulardiiSpermidine

Identifiers

PMID40885775
PMCPMC12398581

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.