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Their study, published in Nature Communications, demonstrates that a harmless strain of Klebsiella—originally discovered by chance in laboratory experiments—can eliminate infections and reduce gut inflammation in mouse models of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The new Nature Communications study takes this a step further, with Vitor Cabral and Rita Oliveira from the Xavier lab, exploring the bacterium's therapeutic potential in a mouse model carrying a genetic mutation associated with human IBD. Complete infection clearance and reduced inflammation in a challenging disease model When microbiota-impaired mice were treated with ARO112 after antibiotic exposure and infection with pathogenic E. coli, the results were very surprising: near-total clearance of infection, far greater than seen in previous models, accelerated recovery of the microbiota, enabling beneficial bacteria to resume production of protective metabolites such as butyrate, and significant reduction of intestinal inflammation. Given the notoriety of some Klebsiella species, the researchers conducted extensive safety assessments in collaboration with the laboratory of Carles Ubeda, from the Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research of the Valencian Community (Fisabio).