Reviewer's report
Title:Differences in gut microbial metabolism are responsible for reduced
hippurate synthesis in Crohn's disease.
Version: 1Date:22 August 2010
Reviewer: Harry Sokol
Reviewer's report:
The study by Williams et al. aimed to assess the baseline and peak urinary
hippurate excretion in Crohn’s disease patients compared to healthy subjects.
Hippuric acid is an interesting metabolite to study as its production is a result of
the combined action of the gut microbiota and the host. Bacteria of the gut
microbiota degrade dietary aromatic compounds in benzoate. Hippurate is the
product of the conjugation of benzoate with glycine by the host. If benzoate from
alimentation is excluded, urinary hippurate excretion can thus be seen as a
marker of gut microbiota function (admitting that the host conjugation step is
conserved). As the gut microbiota is known to have a major role in Crohn’s
disease pathogenesis, analysis of urinary hippurate excretion is relevant.
The paper is well written, the measuring method used is accurate and the results
are clearly presented. The authors showed that baseline urinary hippurate
excretion is decreased in Crohn’s disease patients compared to healthy subjects
(which is already known and published). This study demonstrate that patients
with CD do not have an intrinsic (host) defect in conjugation of benzoate with
glycine underlying the fact that the decrease in hippurate excretion in CD patients
is due to alteration in the gut microbiota function.
Minor Essential Revisions
- The weakness of this paper is the lack of analysis of the gut microbiota
composition in the studied patients. Correlation between dysbiosis and baseline
urinary hippurate excretion would be interesting.
- Although only descriptive, this study is useful as it points out a functional
consequence of the dysbiosis in CD. This point should be mentioned in the
discussion
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
Reviewer's report
Title:Differences in gut microbial metabolism are responsible for reduced
hippurate synthesis in Crohn's disease.
Version: 1Date:22 August 2010
Reviewer: Harry Sokol
Reviewer's report:
The study by Williams et al. aimed to assess the baseline and peak urinary
hippurate excretion in Crohn’s disease patients compared to healthy subjects.
Hippuric acid is an interesting metabolite to study as its production is a result of
the combined action of the gut microbiota and the host. Bacteria of the gut
microbiota degrade dietary aromatic compounds in benzoate. Hippurate is the
product of the conjugation of benzoate with glycine by the host. If benzoate from
alimentation is excluded, urinary hippurate excretion can thus be seen as a
marker of gut microbiota function (admitting that the host conjugation step is
conserved). As the gut microbiota is known to have a major role in Crohn’s
disease pathogenesis, analysis of urinary hippurate excretion is relevant.
The paper is well written, the measuring method used is accurate and the results
are clearly presented. The authors showed that baseline urinary hippurate
excretion is decreased in Crohn’s disease patients compared to healthy subjects
(which is already known and published). This study demonstrate that patients
with CD do not have an intrinsic (host) defect in conjugation of benzoate with
glycine underlying the fact that the decrease in hippurate excretion in CD patients
is due to alteration in the gut microbiota function.
Minor Essential Revisions
- The weakness of this paper is the lack of analysis of the gut microbiota
composition in the studied patients. Correlation between dysbiosis and baseline
urinary hippurate excretion would be interesting.
- Although only descriptive, this study is useful as it points out a functional
consequence of the dysbiosis in CD. This point should be mentioned in the
discussion
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report
Title:Differences in gut microbial metabolism are responsible for reduced
hippurate synthesis in Crohn's disease.
Version: 1Date:22 August 2010
Reviewer: Harry Sokol
Reviewer's report:
The study by Williams et al. aimed to assess the baseline and peak urinary
hippurate excretion in Crohn’s disease patients compared to healthy subjects.
Hippuric acid is an interesting metabolite to study as its production is a result of
the combined action of the gut microbiota and the host. Bacteria of the gut
microbiota degrade dietary aromatic compounds in benzoate. Hippurate is the
product of the conjugation of benzoate with glycine by the host. If benzoate from
alimentation is excluded, urinary hippurate excretion can thus be seen as a
marker of gut microbiota function (admitting that the host conjugation step is
conserved). As the gut microbiota is known to have a major role in Crohn’s
disease pathogenesis, analysis of urinary hippurate excretion is relevant.
The paper is well written, the measuring method used is accurate and the results
are clearly presented. The authors showed that baseline urinary hippurate
excretion is decreased in Crohn’s disease patients compared to healthy subjects
(which is already known and published). This study demonstrate that patients
with CD do not have an intrinsic (host) defect in conjugation of benzoate with
glycine underlying the fact that the decrease in hippurate excretion in CD patients
is due to alteration in the gut microbiota function.
Minor Essential Revisions
- The weakness of this paper is the lack of analysis of the gut microbiota
composition in the studied patients. Correlation between dysbiosis and baseline
urinary hippurate excretion would be interesting.
- Although only descriptive, this study is useful as it points out a functional
consequence of the dysbiosis in CD. This point should be mentioned in the
discussion
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
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