肠道菌群在慢性肝脏疾病中作用的研究进展

随着肠-肝轴机制研究的不断深入,肠道菌群与多种慢性肝脏疾病如非酒精性脂肪性肝病、酒精性肝病、肝硬化等相关性研究日益增多。肠道菌群通过肠道菌群失调、物质能量代谢改变及免疫反应激活等机制在多种肝脏疾病发生发展中发挥重要作用。本文对肠道菌群与慢性肝脏疾病关系的研究进展进行综述。     

胆汁酸和肠道菌群相互作用对非酒精性脂肪性肝病的影响

近年来,大量研究发现胆汁酸与肠道菌群相互作用对非酒精性脂肪性肝病的发生和发展有重要影响。胆汁酸主要在肝脏中合成,分泌进入肠道后不仅可以促进脂类物质的消化和吸收,还具有重要的生理信号和代谢调节作用,其能通过参与能量代谢和炎症反应影响非酒精性脂肪性肝病的进程。肠道菌群的代谢产物(如胆汁酸、短链脂肪酸、内生性乙醇和三甲胺等)对宿主的代谢表型、免疫稳态、炎症反应和病程进展等都有重要调节作用。本文主要综述了胆汁酸的合成、转运代谢与肠道菌群结构变化之间的互相作用和对话交流机制,揭示了肠道菌群结构紊乱和胆汁酸代谢异常对非酒精性脂肪性肝病的推动作用,以期为临床上治疗非酒精性脂肪性肝病提供全新的策略和方法。     

肠道菌群与非酒精性脂肪肝病相关性研究进展

近年来关于肠道菌群与非酒精性脂肪肝疾病关系的研究越来越多。非酒精性脂肪肝是一种无过量饮酒史,肝内脂肪过量堆积的慢性疾病。生理解剖结构上的"肠-肝轴"表明肠道和肝脏有着密不可分的关系。肠道菌群一般情况下处于动态平衡,可以维持肠道正常生理功能。肠道菌群可通过改善肠道通透性、干预脂质代谢、产生内源性乙醇和产生短链脂肪酸等来影响非酒精性脂肪肝疾病的发生与发展。临床上对于治疗非酒精性脂肪肝没有确切的药物,增加有益肠道菌群的因素,如益生元、益生菌等能够调节肠道的微环境,这为非酒精性脂肪肝疾病的治疗开辟了新的方向。     

肠道菌群在非酒精性脂肪性肝病发生发展中的生物学机制

肠道菌群是机体不可或缺的组成部分,也是维持机体内环境动态平衡的健康保证。当某些因素导致机体内外环境紊乱时,机体肠道菌群动态平衡被打破,导致机体肠道菌群紊乱,从而促进非酒精性脂肪性肝病(单纯性脂肪肝、非酒精性脂肪性肝炎、非酒精性脂肪性肝纤维化以及肝硬化)的发生及发展。肠道菌群紊乱能够影响肠道胆汁酸代谢,胆碱及其代谢产物产生,短链脂肪酸形成,肠道内源性乙醇产生,肠道通透性增加及肠道蠕动改变等多种生物学机制的改变,导致非酒精性脂肪性肝病的发病及进程。     

肠-肝轴与非酒精性脂肪性肝病

肠道菌群组成和数量的改变影响宿主的能量代谢、免疫应答和炎症反应状态。非酒精性脂肪性肝病患者常伴有小肠细菌过度生长或某些菌群种类和数量的改变,以及肠道黏膜通透性增加。肠道细菌通过增强肝脏脂肪合成、诱导机体胰岛素抵抗、激活天然免疫系统相关分子模式等机制,诱发肝脏炎症反应,启动纤维化进程,促进单纯性脂肪变向脂肪性肝炎发展。鉴定影响机体能量代谢和炎症反应的肠道菌群及其产物将为阐明肠-肝轴对肝脏炎症发生、发展所起的作用奠定基础,为揭示非酒精性脂肪性肝病发生、发展的机制开辟新思路,为该病的防治探索新策略。     

肠道菌群影响非酒精性脂肪性肝病的机制及应对策略

非酒精性脂肪性肝病(nonalcoholic fatty liver disease,NAFLD)的发病率逐年升高,已成为最常见的肝脏疾病之一。目前其发病机制未被完全阐明,尚无有效治疗药物。肠道菌群与人体共生,作为人体的“第二基因组”,其在消化、吸收及代谢中发挥重要作用。新近研究表明,肠道菌群已成为影响NAFLD发生、进展的重要因素,肠道菌群失调和肠肝轴紊乱与非酒精性单纯性脂肪肝(nonalcoholic fatty liver,NAFL)发展为非酒精性脂肪性肝炎(nonalcoholic steatohepatitis,NASH)、肝纤维化和肝细胞癌(hepatocellular carcinoma,HCC)密切相关。因此,肠道微生态干预有望成为预防或治疗NAFLD的新手段。本综述主要探讨肠道菌群异常对NAFLD/NASH发病过程、机制的影响及干预措施。     

NAFLD患者肠粘膜机械屏障损伤的研究

非酒精性脂肪性肝病(nonalcoholic fatty liver disease,NAFLD)是慢性肝损伤的主要病因之一。据估计,大约有20%的成人有非酒精性脂肪性肝病,2%-3%发展成非酒精性脂肪性肝炎(nonalcoholic steatohepatitis,NASH)。NASH是NAFLD的渐进形式,并可能导致肝硬化和肝细胞癌。NAFLD不仅增加了肝病患者死亡率,作为代谢综合征,还增加了肥胖、2型糖尿病及高脂血症的发病率。肌球蛋白轻链激酶(MLCK)是细胞收缩的关键酶,可使肌球蛋白轻链磷酸化(MLC),促使肌动蛋白收缩,破坏细胞间的紧密连接蛋白,使细胞骨架收缩,进而使肠上皮通透性增加,肠粘膜机械屏障遭到破坏,致使NAFLD的病情进一步发展。MLCK在NAFLD的发生及发展中起着重要作用。NAFLD严重威胁人类健康,影响人们的生活质量及生存质量。为NAFLD患者寻找崭新的治疗方法是极其必要的。     

益生菌对非酒精性脂肪性肝病的治疗及对肠功能的影响CSCD

目的 探讨双歧杆菌三联活菌对非酒精性脂肪性肝病患者的临床疗效及对小肠细菌过度生长、肠屏障功能的影响。方法 选取180例诊断为非酒精性脂肪性肝病的患者,将其随机分成对照组(90例)和治疗组(90例)。对照组患者在健康宣教、运动指导、饮食控制的基础上给予多烯磷脂酰胆碱治疗,治疗组患者在对照组的基础上加用双歧杆菌三联活菌治疗。在治疗前及治疗后分别检测两组患者的肝功能、空腹血糖、血脂、肠黏膜屏障功能、氢呼气试验等指标,观察变化并评估疗效。结果 治疗前两组患者的肝功能、血脂、空腹血糖、小肠细菌过度生长阳性率、肠屏障功能差异均无统计学意义(均P>0.05)。治疗8周后,两组患者天门冬氨酸氨基转移酶、丙氨酸氨基转移酶、甘油三酯、总胆固醇、低密度脂蛋白、空腹血糖、D-乳酸、二胺氧化酶、血清内毒素水平均降低(均P<0.05);治疗后治疗组患者氢呼气试验阳性率(20.00%)较治疗前(53.33%)显著下降(P<0.05),而对照组无显著改变(P>0.05)。结论 对非酒精性脂肪性肝病的治疗,常规治疗联合双歧杆菌三联活菌可抑制患者小肠细菌过度生长,改善肠黏膜屏障功能,改善患者的肝功能及血脂、血糖代谢情况。     

肝细胞程序性坏死与非酒精性脂肪性肝病

非酒精性脂肪性肝病是目前世界上最常见的慢性肝病,其发病机制尚不清楚。肝细胞死亡与该病的相关性已被广泛报道。程序性坏死是一种细胞死亡形式。研究发现,肝细胞程序性坏死在非酒精性脂肪性肝病的发展过程中发挥重要作用。本文就近年来肝细胞程序性坏死在非酒精性脂肪性肝病中的研究进展作一综述,旨在为非酒精性脂肪性肝病的发病机制与药物治疗提供新思路。     

慢性肝病发展中肠道菌群参与调控的分子机制

人体肠道内寄生着大量的肠道菌群,它们参与机体多种生命活动,其紊乱被认为与多种疾病密切相关。肝与肠道之间存在着特殊的解剖位置关系,二者相互作用,相互影响。肠道菌群通过肠-肝轴参与一系列生理病理反应,最终影响慢性肝疾病的发展。目前,有众多学者对肠道菌群在肝疾病中的作用进行了研究,但涉及其中具体的机制尚未探明。本文就肠道菌群通过参与Toll样受体(TLRs)活化加重肝纤维化;胆汁酸代谢调控非酒精性脂肪性肝病（NAFLD）;T细胞分化改善酒精性肝病（ALD);活性氧簇(ROS)生成影响肝癌(HCC)发展中的具体分子机制做一综述。     

Outside the liver box: The gut microbiota as pivotal modulator of liver diseases

The gut microbiota affects host physiology and has evolved as an important contributor to health and disease. Gut and liver are closely connected and communicate via the portal vein and the biliary system so the liver is constantly exposed to gut-derived bacterial products and metabolites. The intestinal barrier is important for maintaining physical and functional separation between microbes in the gut and the interior of the host and disruption of the barrier function can lead to bacterial translocation and increased leakage of bacterial metabolites. Liver diseases have been associated with dysbiotic changes in the gut microbiota and impaired gut barrier integrity, thus a future strategy to treat liver disease may be to target the gut microbiota and thereby restore the gut barrier function. This review will summarize and discuss studies that have shown a link between the gut microbiota and liver disease with the main focus on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and alcoholic liver disease.     

Dorothy Hodgkin Lecture 2012* Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, insulin resistance and ectopic fat: a new problem in diabetes management

Diabet. Med. 29, 1098-1107 (2012) ABSTRACT: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is now recognized as the hepatic component of the metabolic syndrome. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is a spectrum of fat-associated liver conditions that can result in end-stage liver disease and the need for liver transplantation. Simple steatosis, or fatty liver, occurs early in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and may progress to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, fibrosis and cirrhosis with increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma. Prevalence estimates for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease range from 17 to 33% in the general populations and it has been estimated that non-alcoholic fatty liver disease exists in up to 70% of people with Type?2 diabetes. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease increases risk of Type?2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In people with Type?2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is the most frequent cause (～80%) of fatty liver diagnosed by ultrasound. As non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is strongly associated with insulin resistance, the presence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease with diabetes often contributes to poor glycaemic control. Consequently, strategies that decrease liver fat and improve whole-body insulin sensitivity may both contribute to prevention of Type?2 diabetes and to better glycaemic control in people who already have developed diabetes. This review summarizes the Dorothy Hodgkin lecture given by the author at the 2012 Diabetes UK annual scientific conference, proposing that fatty acid fluxes through the liver are crucial for the pathogenesis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and for increasing insulin resistance.     

Implications of microbe-mediated crosstalk in the gut: Impact on metabolic diseases

Metabolic diseases continue to afflict most of the U.S. population. Advancements in gut microbiota research have led to the discovery of various functional roles of microorganisms that influence the development of obesity and co-morbidities including type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and cardiovascular disease. Many mechanisms behind these host-microbe interactions stem from processes involving the intestinal epithelium including lipid metabolism. Thus, the purpose of this review is to discuss gut microbe-mediated changes in intestinal physiology and lipid metabolism that contribute to obesity, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and cardiovascular disease. Within each disease state, the causal role of bacteria in both driving disease development and protecting against metabolic disease will be discussed.     

Circulating levels of cytochrome C, gamma-glutamyl transferase, triglycerides and unconjugated bilirubin in overweight/obese patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, characterized by hepatocyte apoptosis, is distinct in fatty liver and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, the more severe form. Apoptotic cell death is caspase-dependent and associated with mitochondrial membrane depolarization and cytochrome c release. Adhering to the hypothesis that the exposure of hepatocytes to free fatty acids, resulting in increased ROS production and mitochondrial damage, is balanced by the presence of antioxidant substances, circulating levels of gamma-glutamyl transferase, cytochrome c, triglycerides and unconjugated bilirubin were explored in patients suffering from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease with different severity. One hundred and eighty-six consecutive patients who presented recent ultrasound feature of bright liver without any liver disease of known origin were enrolled, eighty-nine of whom underwent liver biopsy. Forty-five subjects were allocated on the basis of histology in fatty liver group while 44 patients formed the group with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. A cohort of 27 young, lean, apparently healthy individuals was selected as control group. The levels of gamma-glutamyl transferase were normal or slightly increased, while unconjugated bilirubin concentrations were elevated in all the spectra of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Comparing the present results with relevant findings from other studies dealing with diseases characterized by apoptosis, we did not find high circulating levels of cytochrome c in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. What is more, our patients, categorized as suffering from simple fatty liver or from the more severe non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, had similar levels of cytochrome c and gamma-glutamyl transferase, p=0.19 and 0.11. Serum triglycerides were higher in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease than in the healthy group, p=0.001. These findings likely reflect a balance between oxidative stress and anti-oxidant response rather than a lack of reliability of cytochrome c as a reliable biomarker of mitochondrial damage.     

Amelioration of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis by Qushi Huayu decoction is associated with inhibition of the intestinal mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway

BackgroundGut microbiota is increasingly recognized as the key participant in the pathogenesis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) by translocation of its products, such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS), via the dysfunctional intestinal barrier. Qushi Huayu decoction (QHD), a traditional Chinese medicine, is developed specially for NAFLD and used in clinic in China for more than a decade and previously found to ameliorate non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) induced by high-fat diet (HFD) in mice accompanied with inhibited metabolic endotoxemia and hepatic LPS signalling.PurposeTo investigate the mechanism of LPS gut-leakage inhibition by QHD in NASH.MethodsEffects of QHD on gut microbioa and intestinal barrier were evaluated in NASH induced by HFD in mice. 16S rRNA sequencing is employed to analyse the gut microbiota composition. To identify the potential signalling pathway responsible for tight junction regulation, the colonic phosphoprotein profile is screened via the Phospho Explorer Antibody Array and verified in NASH, intestinal barrier dysfunctional mouse and Caco-2 cells.ResultsQHD ameliorates NASH accompanied with regulating the gut microbiota composition, protecting intestinal tight junctions and inhibiting LPS gut-leakage without decreasing the abundance of identified Gram-negative bacteria. The validated data of phosphorylated proteins suggested that mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway is predominantly responsible for the colonic tight junction regulation by QHD.ConclusionQHD inhibits LPS gut-leakage in NASH, which is associated with downregulation of intestinal MAPK pathway.     

Hyperreactivity of Blood Leukocytes in Patients with NAFLD to Ex Vivo Lipopolysaccharide Treatment Is Modulated by Metformin and Phosphatidylcholine but Not by Alpha Ketoglutarate

Introduction and Aims

Toll-like receptor 4 and proinflammatory cytokines play a central role in the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. We investigated IL-1, IL-6 and TNFα production and toll-like receptor 4 in both—obese and lean patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease who met different sets of metabolic syndrome criteria and linked the results with the disease burden.

Materials and Methods

95 subjects were divided into four groups depending on the following criteria: presence or absence of metabolic syndrome and/or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, glucose tolerance (prediabetes or normoglycemia) and BMI value (obese or lean). We determined the levels of IL-1β, IL-6, TNFα, and monocyte toll-like receptor 4 expression in fresh blood as well as in blood cultures treated with lipopolysaccharide with or without metformin, alphaketoglutarate or phosphatidylcholine supplementation.

Results

The blood leukocytes of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease are hypersensitive to lipopolysaccharide treatment and produce elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in response to ex vivo treatment with lipopolysaccharide. Moreover, they overexpress toll-like receptor-4. Hyperreactivity was typical mainly for obese patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease together with metabolic syndrome and decreased with the severity of disease. Metformin was the most effective in attenuation of hyperreactivity in all groups of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, but in obese patients the effectiveness of metformin was weaker than in lean. The reduction of cytokine level by metformin was accompanied by the decrease in toll-like receptor-4 expression. phosphatidylcholine also attenuated hyperreactivity to lipopolysaccharide but mainly in obese patients. Alpha ketoglutarate did not modulate cytokines’ level and toll-like receptor 4 expression in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease patients.

Conclusions

Metformin and phosphatidylcholine attenuated lipopolysaccharide induced toll-like receptor 4 overexpression and overproduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines; however, their efficacy depended on combined presence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, metabolic syndrome and obesity.     

Pathological and therapeutic roles of bioactive peptide trefoil factor 3 in diverse diseases: recent progress and perspective

Trefoil factor 3 (TFF3) is the last small-molecule peptide found in the trefoil factor family, which is mainly secreted by intestinal goblet cells and exerts mucosal repair effect in the gastrointestinal tract. Emerging evidence indicated that the TFF3 expression profile and biological effects changed significantly in pathological states such as cancer, colitis, gastric ulcer, diabetes mellitus, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and nervous system disease. More importantly, mucosal protection would no longer be the only effect of TFF3, it gradually exhibits carcinogenic activity and potential regulatory effect of nervous and endocrine systems, but the inner mechanisms remain unclear. Understanding the molecular function of TFF3 in specific diseases might provide a new insight for the clinical development of novel therapeutic strategies. This review provides an up-to-date overview of the pathological effects of TFF3 in different disease and discusses the binding proteins, signaling pathways, and clinical application.Subject terms: Biochemistry, Cell biology     

黏质阿克曼菌及其代谢物短链脂肪酸与溃疡性结肠炎肠黏膜屏障的相关性研究

溃疡性结肠炎(ulcerative colitis, UC)已成为当今世界范围内的发病率高、患病人数多、病程缠绵的终身难治性疾病。而黏质阿克曼菌(Akkermansia muciniphila,A.muciniphila)及其代谢物短链脂肪酸(short chain fatty acid, SCFA)是近年来发现的对UC肠黏膜屏障具有保护作用的益生菌及代谢物,但其具体作用机制有待归纳和总结。因此本文从肠黏膜机械、化学、免疫及生物屏障这四个角度综合分析近年来的相关研究,试图探讨A. muciniphila和SCFA对肠黏膜屏障的具体作用机理,为研究UC的发病机制、治疗手段提供新视角和新思路。