Bioinformatics and Genomics, UNC Charlotte, 9201 University City BLVD, Charlotte, NC, 28223, USA,
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2014;817:25-38. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-0897-4_2.
In a healthy gut, the immune system tolerates a diverse microbial commensal community avoiding inappropriate inflammation responses and minimizing the presence of pathogens. When the balance between host and microbes is disrupted, risk for disease increases. There is mounting evidence that microbial dysbiosis is a substantial risk factor for common gut diseases including IBS, IBD and colorectal cancer. Understanding this dysbiosis is challenging because of the extraordinary complexity of the gut ecosystem and the tremendous variability between healthy individuals in the taxa that make up the human microbiome. Advances in technology, especially sequencing technology, are beginning to allow for a full description of this complexity. In this review, we consider how new "omics" technology can be applied to the study of the gut ecosystem in human and animal models with special consideration given to factors that should be considered in the design of experiments and clinical trials.
在健康的肠道中，免疫系统容忍多样化的微生物共生群落，避免不适当的炎症反应，并最大限度地减少病原体的存在。当宿主和微生物之间的平衡被打破时，患病的风险就会增加。越来越多的证据表明，微生物失调是常见肠道疾病（包括 IBS、IBD 和结直肠癌）的一个重要危险因素。由于肠道生态系统的复杂性以及健康个体中构成人类微生物组的分类群之间存在巨大的可变性，因此理解这种失调具有挑战性。技术的进步，特别是测序技术的进步，开始允许对这种复杂性进行全面描述。在这篇综述中，我们考虑了新的“组学”技术如何应用于人类和动物模型中肠道生态系统的研究，并特别考虑了在实验和临床试验设计中应考虑的因素。
