Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. May 16, 2024; 12(14): 2293-2300
Published online May 16, 2024. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i14.2293
Bringing gut microbiota into the spotlight of clinical research and medical practice
Efstathia Davoutis, Zoi Gkiafi, Panagis M Lykoudis
Efstathia Davoutis, Zoi Gkiafi, Panagis M Lykoudis, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 11527, Greece
Panagis M Lykoudis, Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Lykoudis PM designed the study and revised the draft of the manuscript; Davoutis E and Gkiafi Z performed the research and wrote the draft of the manuscript. All authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the Authors have no conflict of interest related to the manuscript.
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: Panagis M Lykoudis, MD, MSc, PhD, Lecturer, Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom. p.lykoudis@ucl.ac.uk
Received: December 27, 2023
Revised: January 30, 2024
Accepted: April 7, 2024
Published online: May 16, 2024
Core Tip

Core Tip: Gut microbiota (GM) serves as a multifaceted tool in healthcare, acting as a potential biomarker, diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic entity. While dysbiosis is linked to various diseases, harnessing microbiome's diagnostic potential introduces challenges due to its variability and complex identification techniques. As a prognostic tool, GM provides insights into an individual's health status and disease risks, influencing treatment outcomes. Moreover, it emerges as a therapeutic pathway, with interventions such as prebiotics and fecal microbiota transplantation showing promise. Despite growing recognition, its integration into clinical practice remains limited, necessitating increased research, educational initiatives, and collaborations, to unlock the full potential of GM in advancing patient care.