Wang MY, Sang LX, Sun SY. Gut microbiota and female health. World J Gastroenterol 2024; 30(12): 1655-1662 [PMID: 38617735 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i12.1655]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Si-Yu Sun, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Director, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, Endoscopic Center, Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Minimally Invasive Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Techniques, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, No. 36 Sanhao Street, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China. sun-siyu@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Mar 28, 2024; 30(12): 1655-1662 Published online Mar 28, 2024. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i12.1655
Gut microbiota and female health
Meng-Yao Wang, Li-Xuan Sang, Si-Yu Sun
Meng-Yao Wang, Li-Xuan Sang, Department of Gastroenterology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110022, Liaoning Province, China
Si-Yu Sun, Department of Gastroenterology, Endoscopic Center, Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Minimally Invasive Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Techniques, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Sang LX and Sun SY designed the editorial; Wang MY wrote the draft; Sang LX revised the article for important intellectual content; Sun SY approved the final version, and each author contributed important intellectual content during manuscript drafting and revision.
Supported byScience and Technology Plan of Liaoning Province, No. 2022JH2/101500063.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Si-Yu Sun, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Director, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, Endoscopic Center, Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Minimally Invasive Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Techniques, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, No. 36 Sanhao Street, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China. sun-siyu@163.com
Received: December 25, 2023 Peer-review started: December 25, 2023 First decision: January 4, 2024 Revised: January 10, 2024 Accepted: March 5, 2024 Article in press: March 5, 2024 Published online: March 28, 2024
Abstract
The gut microbiota is recognized as an endocrine organ with the capacity to influence distant organs and associated biological pathways. Recent advancements underscore the critical role of gut microbial homeostasis in female health; with dysbiosis potentially leading to diseases among women such as polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, breast cancer, cervical cancer, and ovarian cancer etc. Despite this, there has been limited discussion on the underlying mechanisms. This editorial explores the three potential mechanisms through which gut microbiota dysbiosis may impact the development of diseases among women, namely, the immune system, the gut microbiota-estrogen axis, and the metabolite pathway. We focused on approaches for treating diseases in women by addressing gut microbiota imbalances through probiotics, prebiotics supplementation, and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). Future studies should focus on determining the molecular mechanisms underlying associations between dysbiosis of gut microbiota and female diseases to realize precision medicine, with FMT emerging as a promising intervention.
Core Tip: Maintaining intestinal microbial homeostasis is essential for human health. Dysbiosis of gut microbiota has been demonstrated in patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, breast cancer, cervical cancer, and ovarian cancer, disordered gut microbiota may affect the occurrence and development of these diseases through the immune system, estrogen, or metabolite pathways. In the future, maintaining gut microbiota homeostasis may be a promising treatment.
