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Moving from probiotics to precision probiotics

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A precision approach to probiotics could address the heterogeneity inherent to probiotic strains, the hosts and their microbiomes. Here, we discuss the steps required to develop precision probiotics: mechanistic studies, phenotypic and target-based discovery strategies, and person-centric trials.

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Fig. 1: Probiotics and precision probiotics development modalities.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the members of the Elinav laboratory and members of the DKFZ Cancer-Microbiome division for discussions. We apologize to authors whose work was not included due to space constraints. We also thank L. Jimenez, S. Miret-Catalan and D. Obis (members of Danone Nutricia Research) for the discussions. E.E. is supported by: Y. and R. Ungar; the Abisch Frenkel Foundation for the Promotion of Life Sciences; the Gurwin Family Fund for Scientific Research; the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust; the Crown Endowment Fund for Immunological Research; the Else Kroener Fresenius Foundation; the estate of J. Gitlitz; the estate of L. Hershkovich; the Benoziyo Endowment Fund for the Advancement of Science; the Adelis Foundation; J. L. and V. Schwartz; A. and G. Markovitz; A. and C. Adelson; the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS); D. L. Schwarz; the V. R. Schwartz Research Fellow Chair; L. Steinberg; J. N. Halpern; A. Edelheit; and by grants funded by the European Research Council, the Israel Science Foundation and the Helmholtz Foundation. E.E. is the Sir Marc & Lady Tania Feldmann Professorial Chair in Immunology at the Weizmann Institute of Science, the Director of the Microbiome Research Division at DKFZ, is a senior fellow of the Canadian Institute of Advanced Research (CIFAR) and an international scholar of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Patrick Veiga, Jotham Suez.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Danone Nutricia Research, Palaiseau, France

    Patrick Veiga & Muriel Derrien

  2. Immunology Department, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

    Jotham Suez & Eran Elinav

  3. Cancer-Microbiome Division Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ), Neuenheimer Feld, Heidelberg, Germany

    Eran Elinav

Authors
  1. Patrick Veiga
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  2. Jotham Suez
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  3. Muriel Derrien
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  4. Eran Elinav
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Contributions

P.V., M.D., J.S. and E.E. wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Patrick Veiga or Eran Elinav.

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Competing interests

P.V. and M.D. are Danone Nutricia Research employees. E.E. is a paid consultant at DayTwo and BiomX. None of this work is related to, shared with or licensed to these companies or any other commercial entity. The remaining author declares no competing interests.

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Veiga, P., Suez, J., Derrien, M. et al. Moving from probiotics to precision probiotics. Nat Microbiol 5, 878–880 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-020-0721-1

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