Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2024 Sep:59 Suppl 1:S70-S80.
doi: 10.1002/ppul.26913.

The gastrointestinal microbiome, small bowel bacterial overgrowth, and microbiome modulators in cystic fibrosis

Nicole Green  1 , Christopher Chan  2 , Chee Y Ooi  2   3
Affiliations
Review

The gastrointestinal microbiome, small bowel bacterial overgrowth, and microbiome modulators in cystic fibrosis

Nicole Green et al. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2024 Sep.

Abstract

People with cystic fibrosis (pwCF) have an altered gastrointestinal microbiome. These individuals also demonstrate propensity toward developing small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). The dysbiosis present has intestinal and extraintestinal implications, including potential links with the higher rates of gastrointestinal malignancies described in CF. Given these implications, there is growing interest in therapeutic options for microbiome modulation. Alternative therapies, including probiotics and prebiotics, and current CF transmembrane conductance regulator gene modulators are promising interventions for ameliorating gut microbiome dysfunction in pwCF. This article will characterize and discuss the current state of knowledge and expert opinions on gut dysbiosis and SIBO in the context of CF, before reviewing the current evidence supporting gut microbial modulating therapies in CF.

Keywords: CFTR modulators; cystic fibrosis; gastrointestinal microbiome; probiotics; small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Riordan JR, Rommens JM, Kerem BS, et al. Identification of the cystic fibrosis gene: cloning and characterization of complementary DNA. Science. 1989;245(4922):1066‐1073. doi:10.1126/science.2475911
    1. Ooi CY, Durie PR. Cystic fibrosis from the gastroenterologist's perspective. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2016;13(3):175‐185. doi:10.1038/nrgastro.2015.226
    1. Thavamani A, Salem I, Sferra TJ, Sankararaman S. Impact of altered gut microbiota and its metabolites in cystic fibrosis. Metabolites. 2021;11(2):123. doi:10.3390/metabo11020123
    1. Meeker SM, Mears KS, Sangwan N, et al. CFTR dysregulation drives active selection of the gut microbiome. PLoS Pathog. 2020;16(1):e1008251. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1008251
    1. Schippa S, Iebba V, Santangelo F, et al. Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) allelic variants relate to shifts in faecal microbiota of cystic fibrosis patients. PLoS One. 2013;8(4):e61176. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0061176

MeSH terms

Substances