Gut virome: New key players in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease

Figure 2 Role of gut microbiome in health condition and inflammatory bowel disease progression. In a healthy state, a balanced microbiome helps maintain homeostasis and the production of beneficial metabolites that build tight junctions and keep gut epithelium barrier integrity. On the other hand, gut microbiome dysbiosis participates in damaging tight junctions as well as dysregulating the gut barrier. This enhances the interaction of pathogens with gut epithelium and increases their penetration to the gut lumen with subsequent stimulation to immunological response and immune cells and overproduction of proinflammatory cytokines and progression of inflammatory bowel disease. PBAs: Primary bile acids; SBAs: Secondary bile acid; SCFAs: Short-chain fatty acids; IBD: Inflammatory bowel disease.