Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

NAFLD

Gut microbiome, microbial metabolites and the development of NAFLD

New findings show that a gut microbiome signature derived from metagenomic and phenomic data can accurately predict nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in obese women. The data highlight a role for phenylacetic acid, a microbial product of aromatic amino acid metabolism, in the cross-talk between the gut microbiome and the host hepatic phenotype.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: The gut microbiome and NAFLD.

References

  1. Estes, C. et al. Modeling the epidemic of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease demonstrates an exponential increase in burden of disease. Hepatology 67, 123–133 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Zhu, L. et al. Characterization of gut microbiomes in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) patients: a connection between endogenous alcohol and NASH. Hepatology 57, 601–609 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Betrapally, N. S., Gillevet, P. M. & Bajaj, J. S. Changes in the Intestinal Microbiome and Alcoholic and Nonalcoholic Liver Diseases: Causes or Effects? Gastroenterology 150, 1745–1755.e3 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Loomba, R. et al. Gut Microbiome-Based Metagenomic Signature for Non-invasive Detection of Advanced Fibrosis in Human Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. Cell Metab. 25, 1054–1062.e5 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Qin, N. et al. Alterations of the human gut microbiome in liver cirrhosis. Nature 513, 59–64 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Chen, Y. M. et al. Associations of gut-flora-dependent metabolite trimethylamine-N-oxide, betaine and choline with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in adults. Scientif. Rep. 6, 19076 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Spencer, M. D. et al. Association between composition of the human gastrointestinal microbiome and development of fatty liver with choline deficiency. Gastroenterology 140, 976–986 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Pedersen, H. K. et al. Human gut microbes impact host serum metabolome and insulin sensitivity. Nature 535, 376–381 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Caussy, C. et al. Link between gut-microbiome derived metabolite and shared gene-effects with hepatic steatosis and fibrosis in NAFLD. Hepatology https://doi.org/10.1002/hep.29892 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Hoyles, L. et al. Molecular phenomics and metagenomics of hepatic steatosis in non-diabetic obese women. Nat. Med. 24, 1070–1080 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rohit Loomba.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Caussy, C., Loomba, R. Gut microbiome, microbial metabolites and the development of NAFLD. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 15, 719–720 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41575-018-0058-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41575-018-0058-x

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing