Professor CAO Jianping's team from the State Key Laboratory of Radiation Medicine and Radiation Protection at Soochow University, in collaboration with the National Clinical Research Center for Hematological Diseases/the Department of Hematology at the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, has recently made new progress in the regulatory mechanisms of radiation-associated hematopoietic recovery. The findings, titled "Raffinose-metabolizing bacteria impair radiation-associated hematopoietic recovery via the bile acid/FXR/NF-κB signaling pathway," were published in the journal Gut Microbes. The paper's link is as follows: https://doi.org/10.1080/19490976.2025.2488105.
It has been demonstrated that high-dose ionizing radiation (IR) can induce acute radiation syndrome (ARS), with hematopoietic syndrome (HS) being the most prevalent manifestation. Radiation-associated hematopoietic recovery (RAHR) is imperative for mitigating the lethal complications of acute radiation syndrome (ARS), yet current therapeutic strategies remain significantly limited. The gut microbiota, being the largest symbiotic system in the human body, has gained significant attention for its crucial role in various diseases. However, the precise mechanisms through which it exerts its influence on RAHR remain to be fully elucidated.
In this study, the collaborative team employed a total-body irradiated (TBI) mouse model to investigate the relationship between the gut microbiome and RAHR. Through the application of multi-omics analysis and microbial transplantation experiments, they initially elucidated the pivotal biological function of gut raffinose-metabolizing bacteria—particularly Bacteroides acidophilus—in RAHR. Subsequent molecular mechanism studies have revealed that gut raffinose-metabolizing bacteria suppress RAHR by influencing the bile acid/FXR/NF-κB signaling pathway. These findings establish a theoretical foundation for targeting raffinose-metabolizing bacteria or employing FXR inhibitors to intervene in RAHR, offering novel therapeutic insights for HS.
Figure: Schematic diagram of the mechanism by which the raffinose-metabolizing microbiota regulates RAHR through the bile acid/FXR/NF-κB pathway.
The paper's first author was Professor Yang JIAO of the State Key Laboratory. Jiayi REN, a master's student at Suzhou University School of Medicine, and Shichang XIE, a doctoral student, were listed as co-first authors. The study's co-corresponding authorship was shared by Professor Depei WU and Professor Xiaofei QI, both affiliated with the Department of Hematology at the State Key Laboratory/National Clinical Research Center for Hematological Diseases/The First Affiliated Hospital of Suzhou University, and Professor Zhemin ZHOU, affiliated with Suzhou University School of Medicine. The State Key Laboratory of Radiation Medicine and Radiation Protection at Soochow University is listed as the primary contributing institution. This research received funding from the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFC1802501), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71731013), the National Clinical Research Center for Hematological Diseases (Grant No. 2017Z001), and the internal collaborative fund of the State Key Laboratory of Radiation Medicine and Radiation Protection (Grant No. GKZRMP201901).