Ricerc@Sapienza

The gastrointestinal microbiome is a complex echosystem that establishes a symbiotic, mutually beneficial relation with the host, being rather stable in health, but affected by age, drugs, diet, alcohol, and smoking. Alcohol and smoking contribute to changes in the stomach and affect H pylori-related disorders including the risk of gastric cancer. In the small intestine and in the colon alcohol causes depletion of bacteria with anti-inflammatory activity, eventually resulting in intestinal damage with “leaky gut”.

Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) may occur associated with celiac disease (CD). Regulatory B cells (Breg) subsets have been shown to
play a significant role in autoimmune processes. Therefore, we have characterized their distribution in the peripheral blood
obtained from 10 patients with isolated HT, 10 patients with HT+ CD, 9 patients with isolated CD, and 9 healthy donors (HD).
Th17 cells were significantly increased in patients with HT and in patients bearing both HT and CD, while patients with