TY - JOUR
T1 - The Microbiome
T2 - What Will the Future Hold?
AU - Monsour, Howard Paul
AU - Quigley, Eamonn Martin
PY - 2016/9/1
Y1 - 2016/9/1
N2 - Current research on the human microbiome has opened our eyes to the intimate relationship that we have with the bacteria that populate our gastrointestinal tract and its potential relationship to health and disease. To date, clinical research on the microbiome has identified intriguing associations between an altered microbiome and disease states, but proven therapeutic applications have been very limited. The ingestion of prebiotics, probiotics, and/or synbiotics is appealing to the general public and has significant commercial value, but as yet, solid evidence for clinical efficacy in liver disease has been lacking due, in large part, to the paucity of high-quality clinical trials. On the other hand, the resounding success of fecal microbiota transplantation in Clostridium difficile infection has opened our eyes to the real potential of pharmabiotics and may well provide an intriguing template for the development of novel approaches to modulate the microbiome and its interactions with the host and thereby treat and/or prevent disease states. We will attempt to examine the current state of microbiome therapeutics and predict how these approaches might fit into the management of liver diseases in the future.
AB - Current research on the human microbiome has opened our eyes to the intimate relationship that we have with the bacteria that populate our gastrointestinal tract and its potential relationship to health and disease. To date, clinical research on the microbiome has identified intriguing associations between an altered microbiome and disease states, but proven therapeutic applications have been very limited. The ingestion of prebiotics, probiotics, and/or synbiotics is appealing to the general public and has significant commercial value, but as yet, solid evidence for clinical efficacy in liver disease has been lacking due, in large part, to the paucity of high-quality clinical trials. On the other hand, the resounding success of fecal microbiota transplantation in Clostridium difficile infection has opened our eyes to the real potential of pharmabiotics and may well provide an intriguing template for the development of novel approaches to modulate the microbiome and its interactions with the host and thereby treat and/or prevent disease states. We will attempt to examine the current state of microbiome therapeutics and predict how these approaches might fit into the management of liver diseases in the future.
KW - diet
KW - fecal microbiota transplantation
KW - microbiome
KW - pharmabiotics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85006883417&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85006883417&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1055/s-0036-1594009
DO - 10.1055/s-0036-1594009
M3 - Article
C2 - 27997976
AN - SCOPUS:85006883417
VL - 36
SP - 354
EP - 359
JO - Seminars in Liver Disease
JF - Seminars in Liver Disease
SN - 0272-8087
IS - 4
ER -