[The gut microbiome is important in chronic liver disease]

There is increasing evidence of gut dysbiosis being a significant factor in the development and progression of important chronic liver diseases including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), alcoholic liver disease, primary sclerosing cholangitis and cirrhosis. Dysbiotic microbiota and their toxic metabolites translocate across the gut epithelium via the portal vein and cause damage to the liver. In NASH, alcohol-producing gut bacteria may be critical for its development. Therapeutic measures to normalise the gut microbiota with diet, probiotics or transplantation of normal microbiota seem to have a beneficial effect.