Short chain fatty acids: Postbiotics/metabolites and graft versus host disease colitis

Acute Graft vs host disease (GVHD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo HSCT), a potent form of cellular therapy that has the potential to cure malignant and benign hematological conditions. Gastrointestinal (GI) GVHD is the principal cause of nonrelapse mortality after allo HSCT. Allo HSCT alters the intestinal microbiota and recent research uncovered a microbiome-metabolome axis that can affect intestinal homeostasis and mitigate the severity of experimental GI GVHD. This axis can potentially be manipulated via dietary intervention or through probiotics or postbiotics or antibiotics in humans. In this review we summarize major findings of how microbial metabolites and particularly short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) could impact acute GI GVHD.