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World J Hepatol. Jun 28, 2015; 7(12): 1679-1684
Published online Jun 28, 2015. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v7.i12.1679
Influence of gut bacteria on development and progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Ali Abdul-Hai, Ali Abdallah, Stephen DH Malnick
Ali Abdul-Hai, Ali Abdallah, Stephen DH Malnick, Division of Internal Medicine, Kaplan Medical Center, Affiliated to the Hebrew University, Rehovot 76100, Israel
Author contributions: All the authors were involved in the writing of various sections of the manuscript; Malnick SDH conceived the idea of writing the review.
Conflict-of-interest: The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
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: Dr. Stephen DH Malnick, Division of Internal Medicine, Kaplan Medical Center, Affiliated to the Hebrew University, 1 Pasternak, Rehovot 76100, Israel. stephen@malnick.net
Telephone: +972-89-441371 Fax: +972-89-441852
Received: December 17, 2014
Peer-review started: December 18, 2014
First decision: March 6, 2015
Revised: April 8, 2015
Accepted: April 16, 2015
Article in press: April 20, 2015
Published online: June 28, 2015
Processing time: 194 Days and 5.6 Hours
Abstract

The intestine of the human contains a dynamic population of microbes that have a symbiotic relationship with the host. In addition, there is an effect of the intestinal microbiota on metabolism and digestion. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common cause worldwide of hepatic pathology and is thought to be the hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome. In this review we examine the effect of the human microbiome on the components and pathogenesis of the metabolic syndrome. We are now on the threshold of therapeutic interventions on the human microbiome in order to effect human disease including NAFLD.

Keywords: Microbiome; Metabolic syndrome; Stool transplantation; Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Core tip: The human intestine contains more bacterial cells than mammalian cells. These have a symbiotic relationship with the host. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is the hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome and a major cause of hepatic morbidity as a consequence of the obesity epidemic. We examine the effect of the human microbiome on the components of the metabolic syndrome and fatty liver and mention the possibility of therapeutic interventions in humans.