The TonB-linked outer membrane protein contains a TonB box that is highly conserved and also present in OmpW. OmpW may play a role in facilitating the organism's ability to uptake substrates that are important for commensal bacterial survival in the intestine. The immunological finding of OmpW is an elevation of anti-OmpW IgA levels in some patients with Crohn's disease in comparison to these IgA levels in patients with ulcerative colitis or healthy subjects. More remains to be elucidated on its potential pathogenicity with regards to OmpW. In addition, "B. caccae" has also been found in cultures from infections in the appendix and the abdomen (peritoneal)   "Bacteroides caccae" was specified as being a fiber-degrading microbial specialist in the microbiomes of Western individuals. In a study geared at determining the fermentation of pectin in "B. caccae" from a rabbit cecum, it was determined that cultures grown with pectin produced more acetate than formate, lactate, fumarate, and succinate as opposed to those cultures grown on glucose which yielded vast amounts of lactate. This elucidates the metabolism of a plant fiber by a human commensal. In addition, "B. caccae" showed no growth on arabinan (a pectin), arabinoxylan (wheat), xylan, xyloglucan, glucomannan, galactomannan, B-glucan, lichenin, and laminarin. They do grow on host-derived glycans like neutral mucin O-glycans, chondroitin sulfate, and hyaluronic acid. The monosaccharides that induce growth are arabinose, fructose, fucose, galactose, galacturonic acid, glucose, glucuronic acid, glucosamine, mannose, N-acetylgalactosamine, N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetylneuraminic acid, rhamnose, ribose, and xylose