Compositions comprising bacterial strains

Abstract

The invention provides compositions comprising bacterial strains for treating and preventing inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

1 .- 30 . (canceled) 
     
     
         31 . A method of treating a subject in need thereof, comprising:
 administering to said subject a pharmaceutical composition that comprises at least 1×10 3  colony forming units (CFU)/g of a bacteria strain of the genus  Erysipelatoclostridium  with respect to a total weight of said pharmaceutical composition,   wherein said bacteria strain comprises a polynucleotide of a 16S rRNA gene that has at least 95% identity to the polynucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:3, as determined by a Smith-Waterman homology search algorithm using an affine gap search with a gap open penalty of 12, a gap extension penalty of 2, and a BLOSUM of 62, and   wherein said pharmaceutical composition comprises said bacteria strain in a therapeutically effective amount that is sufficient to treat said subject when administered to said subject.   
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein said bacteria strain is capable of at least partially colonizing an intestine of said subject. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein said pharmaceutical composition is formulated for delivery to an intestine of said subject. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein said pharmaceutical composition is encapsulated. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein said bacterial strain is dried. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein said administering comprises oral, rectal, nasal, buccal, sublingual, or subcutaneous administration. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein said pharmaceutical composition further comprises a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient, diluent, or carrier. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein said pharmaceutical composition comprises from about 1×10 3  to about 1×10 11  CFU/g of the bacteria strain with respect to the total weight of said pharmaceutical composition. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein said bacteria strain comprises a polynucleotide of a 16S rRNA gene that has at least 99% identity to the polynucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:3, as determined by a Smith-Waterman homology search algorithm using an affine gap search with a gap open penalty of 12, a gap extension penalty of 2, and a BLOSUM of 62. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein said bacteria strain comprises a 16S rRNA gene that comprises the polynucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 3. 
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein said bacteria strain is the strain deposited with the NCIMB accession number NCIMB 42688. 
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein said bacteria strain is of species  Erysipelatoclostridium ramosum.    
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein said bacteria strain is a spore-forming bacterial strain. 
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein said subject is human.