Background

The so-called ‘mycobiome’ has progressively acquired interest and increased the complexity of our understanding of the human gut microbiota. Several questions are arising concerning the role of fungi (and in particular of Candida albicans), the so-called ‘mycobiome’, that has been neglected for a long time and only recently gained interest within the scientific community. There is no consensus on mycobiome normobiosis because of its instability and variability. This review aims to raise awareness about this interesting topic and provide a framework to guide physicians faced with such questions.

Objectives

To summarize current knowledge and discuss current and potential implications of the mycobiome in clinical practice.

Sources

We performed a review of the existing literature in Medline Pubmed.

Content

This review identifies several studies showing associations between specific mycobiome profiles and health. Fungi represent a significant biomass within the microbiota and several factors, such as diet, sex, age, co-morbidities, medications, immune status and inter-kingdom interactions, can influence its structure and population. The human gut mycobiota is indeed a key factor for several physiological processes (e.g. training of the immune system against infections) and pathological processes (e.g. immunological/inflammatory disorders, inflammatory bowel diseases, metabolic syndromes). Moreover, the mycobiome (and C. albicans in particular) could influence an even broader spectrum of conditions such as psychiatric diseases (depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder) or chronic viral infections (human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B virus); moreover, it could be implicated in tumorigenesis.

Implications

Candida albicans is a well-known opportunistic pathogen and a major component of the mycobiome but its role in the gastrointestinal tract is still poorly understood. From a potential screening biomarker to a key factor for several pathological processes, its presence could influence or even modify our clinical practice.

中文翻译：

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人类肠道菌群和白色念珠菌的特殊作用：作为临床医生，我们站在哪里？

背景

所谓的“菌群”逐渐引起人们的兴趣，并增加了我们对人类肠道微生物群的理解的复杂性。关于真菌（尤其是白色念珠菌）的作用出现了几个问题，即所谓的“真菌群”，长期以来一直被忽视，直到最近才引起科学界的兴趣。由于其不稳定性和可变性，关于菌群正常菌群没有达成共识。这篇综述旨在提高人们对这个有趣话题的认识，并提供一个框架来指导医生面对这些问题。

目标

总结当前知识并讨论真菌生物群在临床实践中的当前和潜在影响。

来源

我们对 Medline Pubmed 中的现有文献进行了回顾。

内容

这篇综述确定了几项研究，这些研究显示了特定的微生物组谱与健康之间的关联。真菌代表了微生物群中的重要生物量，而饮食、性别、年龄、合并症、药物、免疫状态和跨界相互作用等几个因素会影响其结构和种群。人类肠道菌群确实是几个生理过程（例如免疫系统抗感染训练）和病理过程（例如免疫/炎症性疾病、炎症性肠病、代谢综合征）的关键因素。此外，mycobiome（和C. albicans特别是）可能影响更广泛的疾病，例如精神疾病（抑郁症、精神分裂症、双相情感障碍）或慢性病毒感染（人类免疫缺陷病毒、乙型肝炎病毒）；此外，它可能与肿瘤发生有关。

影响

白色念珠菌是一种众所周知的机会性病原体，也是真菌群的主要成分，但其​​在胃肠道中的作用仍然知之甚少。从潜在的筛选生物标志物到几个病理过程的关键因素，它的存在可能会影响甚至改变我们的临床实践。