The Interplay between Gut Microbiota and the Immune System in Liver Transplant Recipients and Its Role in Infections

Liver transplantation (LT) is a life-saving strategy for patients with end-stage liver disease, hepatocellular carcinoma, and acute liver failure. LT success can be hampered by several short-term and long-term complications. Among them, bacterial infections, especially those due to multidrug-resistant germs, are particularly frequent, with a prevalence between 19 and 33% in the first 100 days after transplantation. In the last decades, a number of studies have highlighted how the gut microbiota (GM) is involved in several essential functions to ensure intestinal homeostasis, becoming one of the most important virtual metabolic organs. The GM works through different axes with other organs, and the gut-liver axis is among the most relevant and investigated ones. Any alteration or disruption of the GM is defined as dysbiosis. Peculiar phenotypes of GM dysbiosis have been associated with several liver conditions and complications, such as chronic hepatitis, fatty liver disease, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Moreover, there is growing evidence of the crucial role of the GM in shaping the immune response, both locally and systemically, against pathogens. This paves the way to the manipulation of the GM as a therapeutic instrument to modulate infectious risk and outcome. In this minireview, we provide an overview of the current understanding of the interplay between the gut microbiota and the immune system in liver transplant recipients and the role of the former in infections.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2021

Erschienen:

2021

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:89

Enthalten in:

Infection and immunity - 89(2021), 11 vom: 15. Okt., Seite e0037621

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Ancona, Giuseppe [VerfasserIn]
Alagna, Laura [VerfasserIn]
Lombardi, Andrea [VerfasserIn]
Palomba, Emanuele [VerfasserIn]
Castelli, Valeria [VerfasserIn]
Renisi, Giulia [VerfasserIn]
Dondossola, Daniele [VerfasserIn]
Iavarone, Massimo [VerfasserIn]
Muscatello, Antonio [VerfasserIn]
Gori, Andrea [VerfasserIn]
Bandera, Alessandra [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Clostridium difficile infections
Fecal microbiota transplantation
Gut microbial dysbiosis
Gut microbiota
Human microbiome
Immune dysfunction
Journal Article
Liver failure
Liver immunology
Liver transplantation
Multidrug resistance
Review

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 22.11.2021

Date Revised 16.04.2022

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1128/IAI.00376-21

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM330030566