MSc Madhukar Vedantham’s doctoral study showed that the enzyme PARP14 contributes to how the gut lining withstands inflammatory stress in both chronic disease and infection.
When the intestine is inflamed, whether during inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or an acute salmonellosis episode, the first structure at risk is the thin epithelial sheet that separates the body from the gut’s contents.
A new doctoral dissertation from the University of Turku reports that the enzyme PARP14 is active in this frontline tissue and that its absence makes inflammatory injury worse in experimental models.
Doctoral researcher Madhukar Vedantham analysed human colon biopsies from the Finnish Auria Biobank to understand where PARP14 is located in human colon and what happens to it during IBD in addition to using two established mouse models, chemically induced colitis and Salmonella enterica Typhimurium bacterial infection.
The study combined immunohistochemistry with RNA-sequencing to ask three questions: Where is PARP14 located? How does its expression change in disease? What happens when it is missing?
The study found that PARP14 localises predominantly to intestinal epithelial cells and increases during inflammation. PARP14-deficient mice show more extensive epithelial erosion and goblet-cell loss, with denser inflammatory infiltration, in both colitis and infection settings.
Transcriptomic analysis of the models indicated dysregulated inflammatory, adhesion, cytoskeletal and repair pathways without PARP14. Baseline microbiota and major immune-cell subsets were broadly similar to controls, pointing to tissue-intrinsic differences during stress.
“These results suggest that PARP14 contributes to barrier resilience by influencing how epithelial tissue responds to injury,” says Vedantham. “The underlying mechanism remains to be determined.”
The thesis adds physiological context to epithelial roles in gut inflammation and recovery. It does not claim a defined mechanism; instead it pinpoints PARP14 as a relevant node to investigate, potentially as a biomarker and a starting point for therapeutic research. Any clinical application would require further studies.
Public defence on 24 October
MSc Madhukar Vedantham defends the dissertation in Medical Microbiology and Immunology titled “Gut inflammation: physiological and molecular insights on poly(adp-ribose) polymerase 14 in inflammatory bowel disease and salmonellosis” at the University of Turku on 24 October 2025 at 12.00 (University of Turku, Calonia, Cal1, Caloniankuja 3, Turku).
Opponent: Professor Tuure Kinnunen (University of Eastern Finland)
Custos: Docent Arto Pulliainen (University of Turku)
> Doctoral Dissertation at UTUPub
> The audience can also participate in the defence remotely.
Contact information: madhukar.vedantham@utu.fi
