Researchers find clues for chronic liver diseases in the gut

The human microbiome can provide information on whether there is a risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This has been discovered by an international team led by the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute. The researchers developed a model that can predict the possible course of the disease based on the microbial composition in the intestine. The study is published in Science Translational Medicine.

In a long-term study, an international research team led by Gianni Panagiotou, research group leader for systems biology and bioinformatics at Leibniz HKI and member of the Microverse Cluster, analysed stool and blood samples from 1200 people who were NAFLD-free. "It has already been proven that the microorganisms in the human gut contribute to the development of NAFLD. We wanted to find out if the microbiome of a healthy person could predict whether or not they would develop NAFLD in the future," Panagiotou explains. "Using different methods, we were able to find very subtle differences in the samples we took four years prior," explains first author Howell Leung from Panagiotou's group at Leibniz HKI. "With this data, we were able to develop a model that can predict who will develop NAFLD in the future based on the microbiome with 80 percent certainty," Leung continues.

Read more in the latest press release by Nora Brakhage