Metaproteomics reveals associations between microbiome and intestinal extracellular vesicle proteins in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease

Alterations in gut microbiota have been implicated in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), however factors that mediate the host–microbiota interactions remain largely unknown. Here we collected mucosal-luminal interface samples from a pediatric IBD inception cohort and characterized both the human and microbiota proteins using metaproteomics. We show that microbial proteins related to oxidative stress responses are upregulated in IBD cases compared to controls. In particular, we demonstrate that the expression of human proteins related to oxidative antimicrobial activities is increased in IBD cases and correlates with the alteration of microbial functions. Additionally, we reveal that many of these human proteins are present and show altered abundance in isolated free extracellular vesicles (EVs). Therefore, our study suggests that the alteration of intestinal EV proteomes is associated with the aberrant host–microbiota interactions in IBD.