Abstract
Microbial habitation in the human body begins immediately after birth, and adults are colonized by microbes outnumbering human cells by a factor of ten. Especially, intestinal track is a living space for diverse microbial species that have coevolved symbiotically. A principal function of the gut microbiota is to protect the host from harmful bacteria and to provide benefits for the host through several mechanisms, including direct competition for limited nutrients, training of host immune systems to recognize specifically foreign materials and conversion of otherwise indigestible food into energy and absorbable nutrients. Therefore, gut dysbiosis, a bacterial imbalance state, is related with the pathogenesis of various host diseases including autoimmune diseases. In the current review, we highlight the importance of gut microbiota in the normal health and autoimmune diseases. We also discuss regulation of gut dysbiosis and future direction for potential clinical applications, including treatment and diagnostics of autoimmune diseases.
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This work was supported by grants from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2014R1A6A3A04054066 and 2015R1A3A2032927).
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Donghyun Kim and Seung-Ah Yoo have contributed equally to this work.
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Kim, D., Yoo, SA. & Kim, WU. Gut microbiota in autoimmunity: potential for clinical applications. Arch. Pharm. Res. 39, 1565–1576 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12272-016-0796-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12272-016-0796-7