• Alcohol use disorder (AUD)affects 5 to 10% of the population in industrialized countries and is a leading cause of premature death. AUD patients are prone to develop emotional and cognitive symptoms that increase the risk of relapse, and the current treatments have limited efficacy for most patients. Our previous data show that AD patients display alterations of gut microbiota composition and function and emphasize the possible causal role of altered gut microbiota in emotional disturbances and brain inflammation.
• The interest of the Gut2Behave project is to propose biomarkers involved in gut-brain axis to control emotional and cognitive functions to better stratify patients and to design innovative treatment of AUD.
• By taking advantage of biological samples in existing cohorts of AUD patients (feces, blood, post-mortem brain), we will search for relevant metabolites (untargeted metabolomics) reflecting brain, behavioural and metabolic alterations related to gut microbiota. The relevance of the selected biomarkers in other pathophysiological contexts and the influence of confounding factors will be evaluated in existing cohorts of obese and elderly patients. Original preclinical and in vitro studies will dissect the mechanisms through which the selected metabolite(s) influence central nervous system function and behaviour. Finally, we will examine whether a nutritional strategy targeting the gut microbiota (intervention study in AUD and obese patients treated with inulin-prebiotics versus placebo) is able to modulate these metabolites and if this modulation is related to the improvement of mood and cognitive disturbances.
• The Gut2Behave project innovates in the scientific rationale and health care for psychiatric diseases that require personalized approach.