Jun Zhou

Xin Li

Jia-Sheng Wang 

Yongli Ye

Gut microbiota and its metabolites may be protective or detrimental in liver diseases. Scientific discoveries regarding this complex role have benefited millions of patients in the past two decades. Famous examples are the leverages of short-chain fatty acids and bile acids to cure or mitigate many prevalent liver diseases. Recently, we have witnessed more and more ongoing and to-start studies to find the links between gut microbiota and gut/liver diseases. In addition, there are an increasing number of studies exploring the disruption of gut microbiome by food/environmental contaminants. Also, positive manipulation of gut microbiota using natural products has become a hot spot due to their potential usage in food and clinical aspects. In this regard, we are organizing this Research Topic to gather relevant advances and findings. It is already known that gut microbiota's functional and compositional changes are associated with liver diseases. The problem remains unclear on which specific gut microbiota changes are indicative of particular liver and gut diseases. For example, a high abundance of Prevotella or Veillonella in the distal intestine is observed in cirrhosis patients; an increased abundance of Lactobacillus and decreased abundance of Clostridium are observed both in patients with Metabolic Associated Fatty Liver Disease. Also, there are many factors that may cause the changes of featured gut-microbes which can interact with host. Roseburia can crosstalk with host intestinal epithelial immune cells by secreting butyrate that binds to TLR5 and SP3 signaling and then repairs the host epithelium lesion. By contrast, dietary exposure to mycotoxin aflatoxin b1 has been found to reduce the Roseburia significantly in mice and rat models. Green tea polyphenols were found to restore the abundance of Roseburia. As the above scientific issues are being explored by global scientists, it is time to call for a Research Topic in the field to gather novel findings and new progress. We believe this collection will enhance the basis for future gut-microbiota research and will surely have more patients benefit from relevant research. This Research Topic welcomes Original Research Articles, Reviews and Mini-reviews, Opinions, Perspectives and Methods. The manuscripts are suggested to be within the following scopes but not limited to: (1) Recently discovered change of gut-microbiome patterns corresponding to particular liver diseases. (2) Novel findings in terms of gut-microbiota-dependent metabolites or metabolic pathways that contribute to the incidence and mitigation of liver diseases. (3) Characterization of specific interaction or crosstalk between gut-microbiome species/family with host liver system. (4) Changes of gut-microbiota induced by xenobiotics (antibiotics; probiotics; food contaminants; natural products) and potential links with the incidence and mitigation of liver diseases. (5) Clinical or food application of natural products to manipulate gut microbiota as an alternative medicine to treat liver diseases.

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