Investigative and Clinical Urology (Mar 2023)

Microbiome in urological diseases: Axis crosstalk and bladder disorders

  • Hae Woong Choi,
  • Kwang Woo Lee,
  • Young Ho Kim

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4111/icu.20220357
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 64, no. 2
pp. 126 – 139

Abstract

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Since the identification of the human urinary microbiome, numerous studies have characterized this microbial community and improved our knowledge of its association with urinary diseases. This association between urinary diseases and microbiota is not confined to the urinary microbiota; it is interconnected with the microbiota of other organs. The gastrointestinal, vaginal, kidney, and bladder microbiota all affect urinary diseases because they work with their respective organs to control the growth and operation of the immune, metabolic, and nervous systems through dynamic bidirectional communication along the bladder-centered axis. Therefore, disturbances in the microbial communities may result in the emergence of urinary diseases. In this review, we describe the increasing and intriguing evidence of complicated and critical relationships that may contribute to the development and progression of urinary diseases through disruption of the microbiota in various organs.

Keywords