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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 28, 2015; 21(40): 11321-11330
Published online Oct 28, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i40.11321
Pathological and therapeutic interactions between bacteriophages, microbes and the host in inflammatory bowel disease
Janka Babickova, Roman Gardlik
Janka Babickova, Roman Gardlik, Institute of Molecular Biomedicine, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Bratislava 811 08, Slovakia
Janka Babickova, Roman Gardlik, Center for Molecular Medicine, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava 831 10, Slovakia
Author contributions: Babickova J and Gardlik R contributed equally to this work; Babickova J and Gardlik R planned the paper, performed research of literature data and wrote the paper.
Supported by Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic VEGA 1/0206/2012.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.
Open-Access: 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/
Correspondence to: Roman Gardlik, MD, PhD, Institute of Molecular Biomedicine, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Bratislava 811 08, Slovakia. romangardlik@gmail.com
Telephone: +421-2-59357296 Fax: +421-2-59357631
Received: March 31, 2015
Peer-review started: April 1, 2015
First decision: June 23, 2015
Revised: July 26, 2015
Accepted: September 13, 2015
Article in press: September 14, 2015
Published online: October 28, 2015
Processing time: 205 Days and 17.7 Hours
Abstract

The intestinal microbiome is a dynamic system of interactions between the host and its microbes. Under physiological conditions, a fine balance and mutually beneficial relationship is present. Disruption of this balance is a hallmark of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Whether an altered microbiome is the consequence or the cause of IBD is currently not fully understood. The pathogenesis of IBD is believed to be a complex interaction between genetic predisposition, the immune system and environmental factors. In the recent years, metagenomic studies of the human microbiome have provided useful data that are helping to assemble the IBD puzzle. In this review, we summarize and discuss current knowledge on the composition of the intestinal microbiota in IBD, host-microbe interactions and therapeutic possibilities using bacteria in IBD. Moreover, an outlook on the possible contribution of bacteriophages in the pathogenesis and therapy of IBD is provided.

Keywords: Microbiota; Inflammatory bowel disease; Gut; Bacteriophages; Bacterial therapy

Core tip: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, with multi-factorial pathogenesis, which affect millions of people worldwide and have a rising incidence. Dysbalanced intestinal microbiota is an important feature of IBD. The relationship between dysbalanced microbiota and IBD is not fully uncovered. We are only beginning to appreciate the role of microbiota in the pathogenesis, progression or prognosis of IBD. In this review, we deal with the composition of gut microbiota, microbe-host interactions, therapeutic potential of bacteria and discuss the possible roles of bacteriophages in IBD.