Microbiota-targeted therapies in inflammation resolution

Fecal microbiota transplantation and next-generation therapies: A review on targeting dysbiosis in metabolic disorders and beyond

The human microbiome, particularly the gut microbiome, has emerged as a central determinant of health and disease. Dysbiosis, an imbalance in the microbial composition of the gut, is associated with a variety of metabolic and other diseases, highlighting the potential for microbiota-targeted treatments. Fecal microbiota transplantation has received considerable attention as a promising therapy to modulate the gut microbiome and restore microbial homeostasis. However, challenges remain, including standardization, safety, and long-term efficacy. This review summarizes current knowledge on fecal microbiota transplantation and describes the next generation therapies targeting microbiome. This review looked at the mechanistic understanding of fecal microbiota transplantation and alternative strategies, elucidating their potential role in improving dysbiosis-associated metabolic disorders, such as obesity, and type 2 diabetes and others. Additionally, this review discussed the growing application of therapies targeting the gut microbiome. Insights from clinical trials, preclinical studies, and emerging technologies provide a comprehensive overview of the evolving landscape of microbiome-based interventions. Through a critical assessment of current advances and prospects, this review aims to highlight the therapeutic potential of targeting gut microbiome and pave the way for innovative approaches in precision medicine and personalized treatments.

The Use of Microbial Modifying Therapies to Prevent Psoriasis Exacerbation and Associated Cardiovascular Comorbidity

Psoriasis has emerged as a systemic disease characterized by skin and joint manifestations as well as systemic inflammation and cardiovascular comorbidities. Many progresses have been made in the comprehension of the immunological mechanisms involved in the exacerbation of psoriatic plaques, and initial studies have investigated the mechanisms that lead to extracutaneous disease manifestations, including endothelial disfunction and cardiovascular disease. In the past decade, the involvement of gut dysbiosis in the development of pathologies with inflammatory and autoimmune basis has clearly emerged. More recently, a major role for the skin microbiota in establishing the immunological tolerance in early life and as a source of antigens leading to cross-reactive responses towards self-antigens in adult life has also been evidenced. Gut microbiota can indeed be involved in shaping the immune and inflammatory response at systemic level and in fueling inflammation in the cutaneous and vascular compartments. Here, we summarized the microbiota-mediated mechanisms that, in the skin and gut, may promote and modulate local or systemic inflammation involved in psoriatic disease and endothelial dysfunction. We also analyze the emerging strategies for correcting dysbiosis or modulating skin and gut microbiota composition to integrate systemically existing pharmacological therapies for psoriatic disease. The possibility of merging systemic treatment and tailored microbial modifying therapies could increase the efficacy of the current treatments and potentially lower the effect on patient's life quality.

From hype to hope: Considerations in conducting robust microbiome science

Microbiome science has been one of the most exciting and rapidly evolving research fields in the past two decades. Breakthroughs in technologies including DNA sequencing have meant that the trillions of microbes (particularly bacteria) inhabiting human biological niches (particularly the gut) can be profiled and analysed in exquisite detail. This microbiome profiling has profound impacts across many fields of research, especially biomedical science, with implications for how we understand and ultimately treat a wide range of human disorders. However, like many great scientific frontiers in human history, the pioneering nature of microbiome research comes with a multitude of challenges and potential pitfalls. These include the reproducibility and robustness of microbiome science, especially in its applications to human health outcomes. In this article, we address the enormous promise of microbiome science and its many challenges, proposing constructive solutions to enhance the reproducibility and robustness of research in this nascent field. The optimisation of microbiome science spans research design, implementation and analysis, and we discuss specific aspects such as the importance of ecological principals and functionality, challenges with microbiome-modulating therapies and the consideration of confounding, alternative options for microbiome sequencing, and the potential of machine learning and computational science to advance the field. The power of microbiome science promises to revolutionise our understanding of many diseases and provide new approaches to prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment.

Role of gut microbiota and inflammatory factors in acute respiratory distress syndrome: a Mendelian randomization analysis

Background

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a serious lung ailment marked by significant inflammation and damage in the alveoli and capillaries of the lungs. Recent research suggests a strong correlation between the onset and advancement of ARDS and an imbalance in the gut microbiota (GM).

Methods

In this investigation, Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was utilized, drawing on data from publicly accessible genome-wide association studies. The primary focus was on examining the interplay between GM, inflammatory factors (IFs) and ARDS. Instrumental variables were established through genetic modifications of GM and IFs. Various statistical analysis methods including the inverse-variance weighted model, MR-Egger method and Wald ratio test were applied for comprehensive data analysis.

Results

Eight bacterial taxa within the GM demonstrated a potential causal link with development of ARDS. Notably, the phylum Actinobacteria and the genus Intestinibacter exhibited a negative association with the risk of ARDS. However, Erysipelotrichales (id. 2,148), Victivallis (id. 2,256), Ruminococcaceae UCG014 (id. 11,371), Eubacterium ruminantium group (id. 11,340), Erysipelotrichaceae (id. 2,149) and Erysipelotrichia (id. 2,147) demonstrated a positive association with ARDS risk. Additionally, the study identified a potential causal relationship between the inflammatory factors interleukin-16 and C-C motif chemokine 3 with the occurrence of ARDS.

Conclusion

This study strongly suggests that the interaction between gut microbiota (GM) and inflammatory factors (IFs) significantly contributes to the pathogenesis of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). This underscores their crucial involvement in both the initiation and advancement of this severe lung disorder.

Intelligent Biological Networks: Improving Anti-Microbial Resistance Resilience through Nutritional Interventions to Understand Protozoal Gut Infections

Enteric protozoan pathogenic infections significantly contribute to the global burden of gastrointestinal illnesses. Their occurrence is considerable within remote and indigenous communities and regions due to reduced access to clean water and adequate sanitation. The robustness of these pathogens leads to a requirement of harsh treatment methods, such as medicinal drugs or antibiotics. However, in addition to protozoal infection itself, these treatments impact the gut microbiome and create dysbiosis. This often leads to opportunistic pathogen invasion, anti-microbial resistance, or functional gastrointestinal disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome. Moreover, these impacts do not remain confined to the gut and are reflected across the gut-brain, gut-liver, and gut-lung axes, among others. Therefore, apart from medicinal treatment, nutritional supplementation is also a key aspect of providing recovery from this dysbiosis. Future proteins, prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics, and food formulations offer a good solution to remedy this dysbiosis. Furthermore, nutritional supplementation also helps to build resilience against opportunistic pathogens and potential future infections and disorders that may arise due to the dysbiosis. Systems biology techniques have shown to be highly effective tools to understand the biochemistry of these processes. Systems biology techniques characterize the fundamental host-pathogen interaction biochemical pathways at various infection and recovery stages. This same mechanism also allows the impact of the abovementioned treatment methods of gut microbiome remediation to be tracked. This manuscript discusses system biology approaches, analytical techniques, and interaction and association networks, to understand (1) infection mechanisms and current global status; (2) cross-organ impacts of dysbiosis, particularly within the gut-liver and gut-lung axes; and (3) nutritional interventions. This study highlights the impact of anti-microbial resistance and multi-drug resistance from the perspective of protozoal infections. It also highlights the role of nutritional interventions to add resilience against the chronic problems caused by these phenomena.

A Novel E3 Probiotics Formula Restored Gut Dysbiosis and Remodelled Gut Microbial Network and Microbiome Dysbiosis Index (MDI) in Southern Chinese Adult Psoriasis Patients

Psoriasis is a common chronic immune-mediated inflammatory skin disease with the association of various comorbidities. Despite the introduction of highly effective biologic therapies over the past few decades, the exact trigger for an immune reaction in psoriasis is unclear. With the majority of immune cells residing in the gut, the effect of gut microbiome dysbiosis goes beyond the gastrointestinal site and may exacerbate inflammation and regulate the immune system elsewhere, including but not limited to the skin via the gut-skin axis. In order to delineate the role of the gut microbiome in Southern Chinese psoriasis patients, we performed targeted 16S rRNA sequencing and comprehensive bioinformatic analysis to compare the gut microbiome profile of 58 psoriasis patients against 49 healthy local subjects presumably with similar lifestyles. Blautia wexlerae and Parabacteroides distasonis were found to be enriched in psoriasis patients and in some of the healthy subjects, respectively. Metabolic functional pathways were predicted to be differentially abundant, with a clear shift toward SCFA synthesis in healthy subjects. The alteration of the co-occurrence network was also evident in the psoriasis group. In addition, we also profiled the gut microbiome in 52 of the 58 recruited psoriasis patients after taking 8 weeks of an orally administrated novel E3 probiotics formula (with prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics). The Dermatological Life Quality Index (p = 0.009) and Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (p < 0.001) were significantly improved after taking 8 weeks of probiotics with no adverse effect observed. We showed that probiotics could at least partly restore gut dysbiosis via the modulation of the gut microbiome. Here, we also report the potential application of a machine learning-derived gut dysbiosis index based on a quantitative PCR panel (AUC = 0.88) to monitor gut dysbiosis in psoriasis patients. To sum up, our study suggests the gut microbial landscape differed in psoriasis patients at the genera, species, functional and network levels. Additionally, the dysbiosis index could be a cost-effective and rapid tool to monitor probiotics use in psoriasis patients.

The role of the gut microbiota in health and cardiovascular diseases

The gut microbiota is critical to human health, such as digesting nutrients, forming the intestinal epithelial barrier, regulating immune function, producing vitamins and hormones, and producing metabolites to interact with the host. Meanwhile, increasing evidence indicates that the gut microbiota has a strong correlation with the occurrence, progression and treatment of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). In patients with CVDs and corresponding risk factors, the composition and ratio of gut microbiota have significant differences compared with their healthy counterparts. Therefore, gut microbiota dysbiosis, gut microbiota-generated metabolites, and the related signaling pathway may serve as explanations for some of the mechanisms about the occurrence and development of CVDs. Several studies have also demonstrated that many traditional and latest therapeutic treatments of CVDs are associated with the gut microbiota and its generated metabolites and related signaling pathways. Given that information, we summarized the latest advances in the current research regarding the effect of gut microbiota on health, the main cardiovascular risk factors, and CVDs, highlighted the roles and mechanisms of several metabolites, and introduced corresponding promising treatments for CVDs regarding the gut microbiota. Therefore, this review mainly focuses on exploring the role of gut microbiota related metabolites and their therapeutic potential in CVDs, which may eventually provide better solutions in the development of therapeutic treatment as well as the prevention of CVDs.