ProfessorPatrice Cani

Specialized in physiology, molecular metabolism and nutrition, he is at the basis of various discoveries that have highlighted the roles of the intestinal microbiota (i.e. intestinal bacteria or intestinal flora) in the development of diseases associated with overweight and obesity such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases but also certain cancers. 

 In 2007, he was the first with his colleague Professor R. Burcelin to publish the concept of “metabolic endotoxemia” demonstrating that during obesity and type 2 diabetes certain molecules (bacterial endotoxins) pass through the intestine (leaky gut) to trigger low-grade inflammation and insulin resistance (prediabetes). He was also the first to discover that a diet high in saturated fat altered the composition of the gut microbiota and increased gut permeability.

 In addition to these discoveries, he studied the role of prebiotics on health (work that he began in the early 2000s with Professor Marcel Roberfroid and Professor Nathalie Delzenne). Thanks to his research on prebiotics, he then discovered the roles of a very particular bacterium called Akkermansia muciniphila. This intestinal bacterium was recently isolated from the human intestine. Patrice D. Cani and his team were have discovered that this bacterium had beneficial effects on health, by strengthening the intestinal barrier, decreasing body weight and fat mass gain while decreasing insulin resistance and diabetes (see Everard et al. PNAS 2013, or for review Cani et al Nature Reviews Gastroenterology and Hepatology 2022). In less than 10 years, he moved from a discovery made in laboratory animals to a demonstration of efficacy in humans : the so called "bench to bedside". 

In addition to his work on Akkermansia, he discovered that the intestinal microbiota and certain bacteria were in communication with our human cells through various lipid molecules (bioactive lipids) including the endocannabinoid system. Recently, Professor Patrice D. Cani and Dr. Tiphaine Le Roy discovered a new bacterium, of a completely new genus and isolated from the human intestine. They decided to call this bacterium Dysosmobacter welbionis and its name comes from the Greek, Dysosmos (peculiar smell) and bacter (bacterium), the name of the species welbionis comes from the fact that the bacterium was isolated within the framework of the WELBIO project financed by the Walloon region.

 Together with Dr. E. Moens de Hase, they discovered that this bacterium was present in the intestine of the general population and is less present in the intestine of obese and type 2 diabetic subjects. The administration of this bacterium improves the health of obese and diabetic mice according to the experiments recent and published in the international journal GUT (Le Roy*, Moens de Hase* et al GUT 2022). They also found that Dysosmobacter welbionis produced specific bioactive lipids acting on inflammation and brown adipose tissues (E. Moens de Hase, C. Petitfils et al J Lipid Research 2023) and predicted response to prebiotic-induced decreased BMI in humans (E. Moens de Hase et al Diabetologia 2024).

In 2025, he published two major discoveries in Nature Metabolism.

In April 2025, his team contributed to demonstrate, in Nature Metabolism, a previously unappreciated brain-to-gut–microbiota axis: by modulating specific hypothalamic neurons (AgRP / POMC) or administering centrally leptin or ghrelin in mice, they could rapidly (within 2–4 h) alter the composition of the gut microbiota in an anatomically selective manner. These results reveal that the brain can actively shape microbiome composition on short timescales, a novel perspective suggesting that neuronal circuits may contribute to microbiota plasticity and, potentially, to metabolic adaptations at the meal-to-meal level.

In a second Nature Metabolism article published in 2025 with Prof. Marc-Emmanuel Dumas they uncovered a novel interaction between IRAK4 signalling, trimethylamine (TMA) production by the gut microbiota and the development of type 2 diabetes. This study demonstrated that altered microbial production of TMA amplifies IRAK4-dependent inflammatory responses, thereby contributing to insulin resistance. These findings open new therapeutic perspectives targeting microbiota-immune crosstalk to prevent metabolic diseases.

In 2026, together with an international team, he demonstrated that Dysosmobacter welbionis harbours a unique, conserved metabolic pathway to convert dietary nutrients found in fruits, legumes and grains such as myo-inositol into butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid with key roles in metabolic and liver health, thereby distinguishing this bacterium from all other gut commensals (Lee*, Bui*, Petitfils* et al GUT 2026). 

Patrice D. Cani has been invited to write numerous opinion papers and reviews in prestigious journals such as Nature Reviews Endocrinology, Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Nature Metabolism, Science, GUT, ... He is currently investigating the role of gut microbes in the context of different diseases including breast cancer using both preclinical and clinical studies. Together with Prof. Bénédicte Jordan they discovered that nutritional obesity contributes to stimulate both the growth and the metastasis development in triple negative breast cancers. The molecular mechanisms are under investigation.