Gut mycobiome in health and disease

Abstract

The complexity of the human microbiota remains poorly understood, despite the evolutionary insights gained in recent years. In particular, the functional role of fungi as one of the key players in the human microbiota remains to be defined. This review provides a summary of the emerging data on the mycobiota in health and disease published in the last year. This work provides a structured insight into the involvement of fungi in liver disease, inflammatory bowel disease and cancer. The data presented support the critical role of fungi in human disease, and changes with mostly increased fungal abundance are associated with specific diseases. Future studies are needed to elucidate the functional role and interaction between the mycobiome and clinical phenotype, as well as mechanistic insights within the microbiota and host interaction.

Keywords

• mycobiome
• microbiota
• cancer
• health
• fungi
• liver
• ibd.