The human gastrointestinal tract hosts almost a trillion microorganisms, organized in a complex community known as the gut microbiota, an integral part of human physiology and metabolism. Indeed, disease-specific alterations in the gut microbiota have been observed in several chronic disorders, including obesity and inflammatory bowel diseases. Correcting these alterations could revert the development of such pathologies or alleviate their symptoms. Recently, the gut microbiota has been the target of drug discovery that goes beyond classic probiotic approaches. This short review examines the promises and limitations of the latest strategies designed to modulate the gut bacterial community, and it explores the druggability of the gut microbiota by focusing on the potential of small molecules and prebiotics.

中文翻译：

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药物肠道微生物群：合理调节肠道细菌组成。

人的胃肠道拥有将近一万亿种微生物，这些微生物组织在一个称为肠道微生物群的复杂社区中，肠道菌群是人类生理和新陈代谢的组成部分。实际上，已经在几种慢性疾病中观察到了肠道微生物群中疾病特异性的改变，包括肥胖症和炎症性肠病。纠正这些改变可能会逆转此类疾病的发展或减轻其症状。最近，肠道菌群已成为超越经典益生菌方法的药物发现的目标。这篇简短的评论探讨了旨在调节肠道细菌群落的最新策略的前景和局限性，并通过关注小分子和益生元的潜力来探索肠道微生物群的可药用性。