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A role for gut microbiome fermentative pathways in fatty liver disease progression

Abstract: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a multifactorial disease in which environmental and genetic factors are involved. Although the molecular mechanisms involved in NAFLD onset and progression are not completely understood, the gut microbiome (GM) is thought to play a key role in the process, influencing multiple physiological functions. GM alterations in diversity and composition directly impact disease states with an inflammatory course, such as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). However, how the GM influences liver disease susceptibility is largely unknown. Similarly, the impact of strategies targeting the GM for the treatment of NASH remains to be evaluated. This review provides a broad insight into the role of gut microbiota in NASH pathogenesis, as a diagnostic tool, and as a therapeutic target in this liver disease. We highlight the idea that the balance in metabolic fermentations can be key in maintaining liver homeostasis. We propose that an overabundance of alcohol-fermentation pathways in the GM may outcompete healthier, acid-producing members of the microbiota. In this way, GM ecology may precipitate a self-sustaining vicious cycle, boosting liver disease progression.

 Fuente: Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2020, 9(5), 1369

 Publisher: MDPI

 Year of publication: 2020

 No. of pages: 17

 Publication type: Article

 DOI: 10.3390/jcm9051369

 ISSN: 2077-0383

 Spanish project: BFU2017-86378-P

 Publication Url: https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9051369