Probiotic-conditioned microbiota from preterm infants modulate immune response to pathogen challenge in a humanized mouse model

Abstract

Early-life host-microbe interactions critically shape immune development, lifelong homeostasis, and disease susceptibility. The PRIMAL trial (Priming Immunity at the Beginning of Life) demonstrated that multistrain probiotics shifted the gut microbiota of very preterm infants toward eubiosis without affecting sepsis incidence, yet the immunological consequences remained unresolved. To explore this, we colonized germ-free female mice with fecal samples from probiotic- or placebo-treated preterm infants from the PRIMAL trial. Microbiota composition was vertically transmitted and stable across generations. At steady-state, 3-week-old pups colonized with probiotic-conditioned microbiota exhibited markedly reduced populations of innate immune cells, particularly in the colon, with subtler effects in the small intestine and spleen, while adaptive immune subsets were less affected. Upon enteropathogenic Escherichia coli challenge at day 5, pups harboring probiotic-conditioned microbiota displayed reduced growth and impaired bacterial clearance, correlating with diminished numbers of key innate immune cell populations. These findings demonstrate that probiotic-driven shifts in human-derived microbial communities can attenuate immune cell development in mice and alter early-life infection outcomes. Our study underscores the complex, context-dependent effects of probiotics on the neonatal microbiota–immune axis and provides mechanistic insight into how interventions in preterm infants may influence susceptibility to infection.