TY - JOUR
T1 - New horizons for the infectious diseases specialist
T2 - How gut microflora promote health and disease
AU - Rabizadeh, Shervin
AU - Sears, Cynthia
N1 - Funding Information:
Dr. Rabizadeh is supported by US National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants F32-DK079509 and T32-HD44355, and Dr. Sears is supported by NIH RO1-DK45496. The authors regret that due to space constraints, additional studies contributing to the understanding of this topic could not be referenced.
PY - 2008/3
Y1 - 2008/3
N2 - The human intestine provides an expansive interface for interactions with the microflora. Increasing data support the hypothesis that host-microflora relationships are markedly dynamic, contributing to host health and disease pathogenesis. Despite outnumbering human cells 10-fold, the microflora most often assist the host through symbiotic relationships. The microflora are involved in maximizing host utilization of nutrients, induction of host immune responses, and promotion of intestinal cell and mucosal development. However, evolving data suggest that disturbances in this symbiotic relationship can lead the microflora to be pathogenic in diverse conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel disease, obesity, graft-versus-host disease, HIV immunopathogenesis, and possibly cancer. Defining those microflora attributes that result in health and those that trigger disease is key to harnessing the microflora to promote human health.
AB - The human intestine provides an expansive interface for interactions with the microflora. Increasing data support the hypothesis that host-microflora relationships are markedly dynamic, contributing to host health and disease pathogenesis. Despite outnumbering human cells 10-fold, the microflora most often assist the host through symbiotic relationships. The microflora are involved in maximizing host utilization of nutrients, induction of host immune responses, and promotion of intestinal cell and mucosal development. However, evolving data suggest that disturbances in this symbiotic relationship can lead the microflora to be pathogenic in diverse conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel disease, obesity, graft-versus-host disease, HIV immunopathogenesis, and possibly cancer. Defining those microflora attributes that result in health and those that trigger disease is key to harnessing the microflora to promote human health.
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U2 - 10.1007/s11908-008-0017-8
DO - 10.1007/s11908-008-0017-8
M3 - Review article
C2 - 18462581
AN - SCOPUS:56349122532
VL - 10
SP - 92
EP - 98
JO - Current Infectious Disease Reports
JF - Current Infectious Disease Reports
SN - 1523-3847
IS - 2
ER -