Page 1 of 44 Diabetes Polysaccharide A-dependent opposing effects of mucosal and systemic exposures to human gut commensal Bacteroides fragilis in type 1 diabetes M. Hanief. Sofi1, Benjamin M. Johnson1, Radhika R. Gudi1, 1, Amy Jolly1, Marie-Claude Gaudreau1, and Chenthamarakshan Vasu1,3 1Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC-29425 3Surgery, College of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC-29425 Running title: Bacteroides fragilis in type 1 diabetes. 5Address Correspondence: Chenthamarakshan Vasu Microbiology and Immunology Medical University of South Carolina 173 Ashley Avenue, BSB208E Charleston, SC-29425 Phone: 843-792-1032, Fax: 843-792-9588 Email:
[email protected] 1 Diabetes Publish Ahead of Print, published online July 16, 2019 Diabetes Page 2 of 44 Abstract Bacteroides fragilis (BF) is an integral component of the human colonic commensal microbiota. BF is also the most commonly isolated organism from clinical cases of intra-abdominal abscesses suggesting its potential to induce pro-inflammatory responses, upon accessing the systemic compartment. Hence, we examined the impact of mucosal and systemic exposures to BF on type 1 diabetes (T1D) incidence in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice. The impact of intestinal exposure to BF under chemically-induced enhanced gut permeability condition, which permits microbial translocation, in T1D was also examined. While oral administration of pre- diabetic mice with heat-killed (HK) BF caused enhanced immune regulation and suppression of autoimmunity resulting in delayed hyperglycemia, mice that received HK BF by i.v. injection showed rapid disease progression. Importantly, polysaccharide-A deficient (ΔPSA) BF failed to produce these opposing effects upon oral and systemic deliveries.