The role of the microbiome in progression of liver disease is an exciting area of research that is advancing rapidly supported by the development of next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics tools that simultaneously identify the composition and function of the microbiome. Changes in the microbiome are associated with pathogenesis of chronic liver disease; specifically, changes in microbiome composition predict disease severity and specific microbial signatures can be used to distinguish between mild disease, advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis. Future work combining functional metagenomic analysis with preclinical mechanistic studies will be key to advancing our understanding of how the microbiome affects the pathogenesis of different chronic liver disease aetiologies and to identify personalised therapeutics based on modulation of the microbiome and its function.

中文翻译：

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纤维化和肠道微生物组；专注于慢性肝病。

微生物组在肝病进展中的作用是一个令人兴奋的研究领域，在下一代测序和生物信息学工具的发展的支持下，该领域正在迅速发展，这些工具可以同时识别微生物组的组成和功能。微生物组的变化与慢性肝病的发病机制有关；具体而言，微生物组组成的变化可预测疾病的严重程度，而特定的微生物特征可用于区分轻度疾病、晚期纤维化和肝硬化。