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Review
. 2018 Jun 21;18(8):55.
doi: 10.1007/s11892-018-1020-6.

The Gut Microbiome as a Target for the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes

Ömrüm Aydin  1   2 , Max Nieuwdorp  2   3   4 , Victor Gerdes  5   6
Affiliations
Review

The Gut Microbiome as a Target for the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes

Ömrüm Aydin et al. Curr Diab Rep. .

Abstract

Purpose of review: The objective of this review is to critically assess the contributing role of the gut microbiota in human obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Recent findings: Experiments in animal and human studies have produced growing evidence for the causality of the gut microbiome in developing obesity and T2D. The introduction of high-throughput sequencing technologies has provided novel insight into the interpersonal differences in microbiome composition and function. The intestinal microbiota is known to be associated with metabolic syndrome and related comorbidities. Associated diseases including obesity, T2D, and fatty liver disease (NAFLD/NASH) all seem to be linked to altered microbial composition; however, causality has not been proven yet. Elucidating the potential causal and personalized role of the human gut microbiota in obesity and T2D is highly prioritized.

Keywords: Diabetes; Gut microbiota; Metabolism; Obesity; Personalized medicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

Ömrüm Aydin and Victor Gerdes declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Max Nieuwdorp is on the Scientific Advisory Board of Caelus Pharmaceuticals, The Netherlands. None of these conflicts of interest is directly related to the research currently described.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Effect of gut microbiota in liver disease, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes. GLP-1, glucagon like peptide 1; Gpr41, G-coupled receptor 41; Gpr43, G-coupled receptor 43; LPS, lipopolysaccharides; OXM, oxyntomodulin; PYY, protein YY; SCFA, short-chain fatty acids
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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