NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Enterome Bioscience today said that it has signed an agreement with the Mayo Clinic to collaborate on the discovery and validation of microbiome-based tests for predicting response to medical nutritional intervention in obese and overweight patients.
The Mayo Clinic is currently conducting a study of the gut microbiome before and after dietary intervention. The aim of the research is commercialize a personalized nutrition test for obese patients with low-grade inflammation and certain metabolic risk factors.
Meanwhile, Paris-based Enterome has collaborated with researchers at the French National Institute for Agriculture Research (INRA) and the Institute of Cardiometabolism and Nutrition to identify a panel of bacterial biomarkers from the gut microbiome that enables stratification of patients based on the health and diversity of their gut microbiome, according to the firm. It added that a 400-patient study has correlated the biomarker panel to the metabolic profile of obese patients and their responsiveness to nutritional intervention.
Enterome has licensed rights from INRA to develop a diagnostic test for managing obesity and personalizing medical nutrition for such patients.
"It is well known that a healthy diet and regular exercise are key to losing weight, but there is another factor that may be just as influential – a person's microbiome," Vandana Nehra, of the Mayo Clinic's Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, said in a statement. "This study will use a weight loss program at Mayo Clinic to examine the effect of intervention with diet and exercise on the microbiome."
Terms of the alliance were not disclosed.
Enterome's technology platform is called the Metagenotyping system and is used to develop new tools, such as biomarkers and companion diagnostics, for managing diseases. Last week the firm said that it would collaborate with Synthetic Genomics on microbiome research on the effects of beta-lactam antibiotics on humans.