Summary

The infant intestinal microbiota ferments human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) into diverse repertoire of microbial products, which have a role in regulating a variety of host functions, including intestinal epithelial barrier function. A dysregulated intestinal epithelial barrier function has been implicated in the pathogenesis of many highly prevalent infant inflammatory diseases, such as infections and allergy. This study investigated the capacity of HMO related microbial products derived from infant microbiota fermentation to modulate the epithelial barrier function and its response to inflammatory challenge in-vitro.