Volume 15 Issue 12, December 2018

New findings show that a gut microbiome signature derived from metagenomic and phenomic data can accurately predict nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in obese women. The data highlight a role for phenylacetic acid, a microbial product of aromatic amino acid metabolism, in the cross-talk between the gut microbiome and the host hepatic phenotype.

Inflammasome signalling has a central role in the regulation of gastrointestinal health and disease. Here, an overview of inflammasome biology in relation to the gastrointestinal tract is presented, with insights into how targeted interventions might be useful to treat inflammasome-mediated gastrointestinal diseases

Cell death is a fundamental driver of liver disease progression. Here, the authors summarize the specific roles of apoptosis and necroptosis in different liver disease aetiologies, including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and liver cancer.

Current approaches to manage decompensated cirrhosis are based on targeted strategies aimed at preventing or treating specific complications of the disease. Here, Bernardi and Caraceni discuss the shift in focus from individual treatments targeting individual complications to disease-modifying agents able to slow the progression of decompensation.

In this Review, the authors summarize how various interactions at the gastrointestinal epithelium regulate gut physiology. They also discuss how neuroimmunophysiology has advanced the understanding of gastrointestinal pathophysiology with the potential to reveal novel therapies for disorders such as IBS and IBD.