Gut microbiota and inflammatory bowel disease: The current status and perspectives

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic immune-mediated disease that affects the gastrointestinal tract. It is argued that environment, microbiome, and immune-mediated factors interact in a genetically susceptible host to trigger IBD. Recently, there has been increased interest in the development, progression, and treatment of IBD because of our understanding of the microbiome. Researchers have proved that some factors can alter the microbiome and the pathogenesis of IBD. As a result, there has been increasing interest in the application of probiotics, prebiotics, antibiotics, fecal microbiota transplantation, and gene manipulation in treating IBD because of the possible curative effect of microbiome-modulating interventions. In this review, we summarize the findings from human and animal studies and discuss the effect of the gut microbiome in treating patients with IBD.

Automated summary

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic immune-mediated disease affecting the gastrointestinal tract. The interaction of environment, microbiome, and immune factors in a genetically susceptible host triggers IBD, leading to an increased interest in microbiome-modulating interventions for treatment. Probiotics, prebiotics, antibiotics, fecal microbiota transplantation, and gene manipulation have shown potential curative effects in treating IBD.