Text/Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Xue Renzheng
Correspondent Jian Wenyang Dai Xi'an
You may know the concept of probiotics, but in the gut microbiome, in addition to bacteria, there are a large number of viruses and fungi, and to some extent, they also play a crucial role in the effect of fecal microbial transplantation (FMT) in the treatment of intestinal microbiome disorders.
Recently, the Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University was invited by Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, a sub-journal of Lancet, to publish a review entitled "Roles of the gut virome and mycobiome in faecal microbiota transplantation" online with the hospital as the first unit. The role of enteroviruses and fungi in the treatment of different diseases by fecal microbial transplantation (FMT) is elaborated. Researcher Zuo Tao, Professor Lan Ping and Chief Physician Wu Xiaojian of the Hospital are co-corresponding authors, and Siu Lam of the University of Sydney, Dr. Bai Xiaowu of the Hospital, Andrey Shkoporov of the National University of Cork of Ireland and Heekuk Park of Columbia University are co-authors.
Intestinal microbiome is closely related to health
Zuo Tao introduced that a variety of human diseases such as Clostridium difficile infection, obesity, type 2 diabetes, necrotizing enterocolitis, inflammatory bowel disease, etc., are actually closely related to intestinal microecological disorders.
FMT is a kind of fecal microbial preparation solution that is transplanted into the patient's intestine by transplanting a healthy donor to achieve the purpose of resetting the patient's intestinal microecology and treating the disease. In the intestinal microbiome, in addition to bacteria, it also contains a large number of viruses and fungi, which are also collectively referred to as enterovirus groups and fungal groups, respectively. The impact of the viral and fungal groups on the success of FMT treatment has only recently been recognized.
In recent years, studies have found that the enterovirus population and fungal population play an important role in the occurrence and development of human health and disease, especially in the colonization and efficacy of FMT microbial transplantation. This review elaborates on the different roles played by the enterovirus population and the fungal population in the treatment of different diseases by FMT. At the same time, the article also elaborates on the different advantages and disadvantages of the transplantation of virus and fungal populations on the host. Among them, the transplantation of bacteriophages (bacterial viruses) and the transplantation of Candida (fungi) play a particularly important role in FMT treatment.
Targeting the intestinal fungal flora is highly promising
According to reports, the human enterovirus group mainly includes prokaryotic viruses (mainly bacteriophages) and eukaryotic viruses. Among them, bacteriophages have a mild and lytic alternating life cycle in the gastrointestinal tract, which can affect the composition of intestinal bacteria by means of integration and lysis.
The healthy human enterovirus group is controlled by mild-type phages, which can shift from mild replication to lytic replication during host inflammation. Due to the advantage of phages in the enterovirus group over eukaryotic viruses and their direct role and function in regulating bacterial composition, bacteriophages have been the focus of most human enterovirus group research.
Viral and bacterial transplantation of FMT has been shown to be associated with efficacy in a variety of diseases, including Clostridium difficile infection, inflammatory bowel disease, and graft-versus-host disease after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
Since 2019, there have been a number of studies using sterile fecal filtrate and fecal virus transplantation to illustrate the role of the enterovirus group in the treatment of disease, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, necrotizing enterocolitis, and post-antibiotic microbiota disorders.
On the other hand, the human gastrointestinal tract is rich in fungi, collectively known as the intestinal fungal flora. Metagenomic sequencing shows that fungi make up about 0.1% of the gut microbiota. Studies have shown that the gut contains more than 50 fungal genera, with Candida, Yeast, Mycosporus and Malassezia being the most abundant.
Intestinal resident fungi have symbiotic and antagonistic properties with intestinal bacteria, which together shape host immunity. Intestinal fungi have been shown to have a causal relationship with microbial assembly and immune development.
There is growing evidence that the gut fungal population can strongly affect the host immune system, and this interaction is associated with bacterial activity. Intestinal fungal population disorders play an important role in the pathogenesis of various diseases. This suggests that targeting the intestinal fungal population is a promising treatment.
Zuo Tao said that the main effect of FMT in treating diseases is to rely on complex human bacterial population-virus population-fungal population-host immune interaction. In future basic and translational studies, the role of fungi and viruses in the treatment of diseases will be further revealed, and further clinical translation will be guided. (For more news, please pay attention to Yangcheng Pie pai.ycwb.com)
Source | Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng Pie
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Editor-in-charge | Sun Wei