Extracellular vesicles and the microbiome: from top to bottom

The human body is host to trillions of microorganisms collectively referred to as the microbiome. A healthy microbiome is thought to be essential for human health, as disruption to the balance of the microbiome is associated with a wide range of diseases, and there are also changes associated with age. The relationship between the microbiome and the host is therefore carefully controlled and homeostasis is essential for health.

We have recently established that tiny particles produced by human cells – called vesicles – can directly interact with bacteria and alter their function. This novel observation implies that human cells can influence the microbiome through EVs. Understanding these interactions could provide insights into how EVs could contribute to the intersection between microbes, hosts, ageing and health.

In this project, we propose that EV-mediated changes within the oral microbiome may offer an insight into how ageing influences host/microbe interaction. Furthermore, bacteria normally found in the oral cavity have been isolated from the bowel microbiome in patients with colorectal cancer and have been shown to drive this disease, so we further propose that EVs may disrupt the microbiome by favouring some species over others, leading to shifts that contribute towards age-related disease.

This multi-disciplinary project will involve research teams from Biomolecular Sciences Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University, and the School of Clinical Dentistry at the University of Sheffield. Dr Nick Peake (SHU) is an EV researcher with a focus on the bowel microenvironment, and Dr Stuart Hunt (UOS) researches EVs within the oral cavity. Dr Prachi Stafford (SHU) specialises in host-bacterial interactions, and Dr Lewis Quayle (SHU) is an expert in bioinformatics, and collectively this will provide training in the cellular, microbiology and data analysis platforms which will be used to probe the microbiome and EV features involved in this inter-kingdom interaction.