The role of the gut microbiome in systemic inflammatory disease

Abstract

The role of the gut microbiome in models of inflammatory and autoimmune disease is now well characterized. Renewed interest in the human microbiome and its metabolites, as well as notable advances in host mucosal immunology, has opened multiple avenues of research to potentially modulate inflammatory responses. The complexity and interdependence of these diet-microbe-metabolite-host interactions are rapidly being unraveled. Importantly, most of the progress in the field comes from new knowledge about the functional properties of these microorganisms in physiology and their effect in mucosal immunity and distal inflammation. This review summarizes the preclinical and clinical evidence on how dietary, probiotic, prebiotic, and microbiome based therapeutics affect our understanding of wellness and disease, particularly in autoimmunity.

Fig 1

Influence of microbiome on metabolite production, immunomodulation, and development of systemic inflammatory disease. Accumulated evidence of microbiome and its metabolites in human autoimmune disease and animal models, including inflammatory bowel disease, inflammatory arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and systemic lupus erythematosus

Fig 2

Therapeutic strategies in pipeline to alter properties of microbiome. Various approaches in development and spectrum of microbiota modulation ranging from entire communities to individual species/strains and bioactive molecules