Divine Aleru, Microbiome Signatures Research Coordinator

What was studied?This study investigates the role of metal ions in enzyme catalysis and their implications for human health. It specifically looks at the biochemical roles of essential metal ions, such as zinc, magnesium, iron, copper, and manganese, in various enzymatic processes. These ions are vital cofactors for numerous metalloenzymes that facilitate catalytic reactions, stabilize […]

What was studied?The study focuses on the metallation and mismetallation of iron and manganese proteins, with specific attention to class I ribonucleotide reductases (RNRs). The research explores the challenges organisms face when inserting the correct metal into proteins that require them for biological function. These enzymes are important for deoxynucleotide production in both eukaryotes and […]

This systematic review shows that dietary interventions shape the gut microbiome in ways that significantly influence cancer immunotherapy response, with fiber-rich diets enhancing microbial diversity, antitumor immunity, and treatment outcomes, while Western diets and some probiotics impair response.

This review evaluates probiotic supplementation in preterm infants, showing strong evidence for reduced necrotizing enterocolitis and mortality, minimal impact on late-onset sepsis, and a low but real risk of probiotic-associated infection when gut integrity is compromised.

This review explains how oral streptococci shape biofilm formation, regulate microbial balance, and influence oral and systemic health through niche-specific adaptations.

This study shows that the nasal commensal Staphylococcus lugdunensis blocks Staphylococcus aureus colonization by stealing its iron-scavenging molecules, revealing a precise microbiome-based mechanism of colonization resistance.

This review explains how the oral microecosystem serves as a major source of lung microbes and a regulator of respiratory infection, inflammation, and disease severity.

This review explains how vaginal lactobacilli protect against viral sexually transmitted infections by strengthening epithelial barriers, reducing inflammation, and directly inactivating viruses.

This review explains how the vaginal microbiome regulates immune balance, protects against infection, and influences reproductive and gynecologic health.

This review explains how Staphylococcus epidermidis supports skin immunity and barrier function while also acting as a leading opportunistic pathogen. Strain diversity, host context, and microbial interactions determine whether it protects against disease or contributes to inflammation, biofilm infections, and antibiotic resistance.

This review explains how skin microbes shape immune tolerance, barrier defense, and inflammation in health and skin disease.

This review explains how food antigens, gut microbes, and intestinal permeability interact to shape immune tolerance and drive inflammatory disease.

This review explains how the microbiota trains, regulates, and sustains immune function while preventing inflammatory and autoimmune disease.

This review explains how intestinal bacterial biofilms directly modulate mucosal immunity and drive inflammation through structured microbial–host interactions.

This study shows that the antibacterial lectin RegIIIγ maintains a physical barrier between gut microbes and the intestinal lining, preventing immune overactivation.

This review explains how commensal microbiota continuously prime and regulate immune function, shaping tolerance, inflammation control, and pathogen defense.

This review explains how the microbiome controls mucosal immunity by regulating Tregs and Th17 cells and how dysbiosis drives inflammation and disease.

This review explains how the gut microbiome actively shapes immune development, antimicrobial defense, and inflammatory balance through microbial signals and metabolites.

This study shows that gut microbiota–derived propionate induces Reg3 antimicrobial lectins and protects against experimental colitis by promoting epithelial defense and regeneration.

This review explains how microbiota-derived butyrate supports gut barrier function, immune balance, and metabolic health, and why restoring microbial butyrate production is critical for treating gastrointestinal disease.

This review explains how antibiotics disrupt gut microbiota, weaken colonization resistance, and increase infection and disease risk through metabolic and immune mechanisms.

This review explains how gut microbiota prevent bacterial enteric infections through metabolic competition, antimicrobial activity, barrier support, and ecosystem stability.

This review explains how antibiotic disruption of gut microbiota removes colonization resistance, enabling Clostridium difficile infection through metabolic, immune, and ecological mechanisms.

This review explains how the gut microbiota prevents Salmonella infection through metabolic competition, antimicrobial activity, and immune regulation, highlighting colonization resistance as a key defense against enteric pathogens.

What was reviewed?This paper reviewed the emerging role of commensal bacteria in protecting the host against respiratory pathogens, with a strong focus on immune-mediated and direct microbial mechanisms operating along the gut–lung axis. The authors synthesized experimental, translational, and limited human clinical evidence to explain how resident microbiota in the gut, oral cavity, nasal passages, […]

This review explains how the microbiome trains and regulates the immune system, showing how disrupted immune–microbial balance contributes to inflammatory, autoimmune, metabolic, and cancer-related diseases.

This review explains how antimicrobial peptides protect against infection, regulate immunity, and interact with the microbiome, highlighting their promise and limits as clinical therapeutics.

This review explains how moisturizers and emollients restore skin barrier function, reduce inflammation, and limit microbial overgrowth in atopic dermatitis.

This review explains how mucosal immunity relies on constant interaction with the microbiome, showing how commensal microbes shape immune tolerance, barrier integrity, and protection against infection and inflammatory disease.

This review explains how the skin microbiome shapes barrier function, immune responses, and disease risk, highlighting key microbial associations that protect against infection and drive inflammatory skin disorders when disrupted.

This review explains how gut microbes prevent Clostridioides difficile infection through bile acid metabolism, short-chain fatty acids, nutrient competition, and direct antagonism, highlighting microbial functions that protect the gut after antibiotic disruption.

Functional shielding describes the body’s active, layered defenses that prevent harm without relying solely on “walls” like skin or mucus. On a clinical level, the microbiome is central to this concept because it behaves like a living protective system: it limits pathogen growth through competitive exclusion, shapes local immune readiness, and generates metabolites that reinforce epithelial integrity. In the gut, colonization resistance emerges from a mix of nutrient competition, antimicrobial production, bile-acid transformation, and short-chain fatty acid signaling that supports tight junctions and antimicrobial peptide expression. When this shield is disrupted, most notably after broad-spectrum antibiotics, opportunists such as Clostridioides difficile can expand, illustrating how loss of microbial protection translates into disease risk.

This review analyzes the effects of probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics on human health, focusing on their impact on the gut-brain axis and various health conditions.

A review exploring the relationship between fiber intake and mental health reveals promising results but highlights the need for further well-designed studies to establish conclusive therapeutic guidelines.

This review analyzes the role of fiber intake in managing depression and anxiety, focusing on prebiotic-rich foods. It finds moderate benefits, especially in anxiety reduction, but calls for further research to confirm these effects in clinical settings.

What was studied?This study aimed to investigate the effects of inulin supplementation on cognitive flexibility, body composition, and gut microbiota in a mouse model fed a high-fat (HF) diet. Specifically, the study evaluated how inulin modulates cognitive performance and its potential impact on the gut microbiota composition.Who was studied?Male CD1 mice were the subjects of […]

This paper updates the definitions of prebiotics and prebiotic effects, proposing changes that reflect scientific advancements in microbiome research and regulatory needs.

The study provides molecular mechanisms showing how prebiotics like inulin and scFOS directly regulate host immune signaling to modulate inflammation, independent of microbiota changes.

What was studied?The research focused on short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), particularly acetate, propionate, and butyrate, and their roles in gastrointestinal and metabolic health. The study examined how SCFAs are produced via microbial fermentation in the gastrointestinal tract and explored their absorption mechanisms, their beneficial effects on gut health, and their therapeutic applications in treating various […]

This review explores butyrate’s role in colorectal cancer prevention, showing its potential to modulate epithelial cell behavior and reduce tumor formation. However, the need for optimized delivery methods and further research is emphasized to confirm its efficacy in human CRC prevention.

What Was Reviewed?This paper reviews the potential effects of prebiotics, probiotics, and synbiotics in managing diabetes mellitus (DM), focusing on their ability to restore intestinal barrier function, modulate the immune response, and improve metabolic parameters. It synthesizes findings from various preclinical and clinical studies to assess the effectiveness of these dietary interventions in addressing diabetes-related […]

This review explores the effects of probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics on the gut-brain axis, suggesting their potential to enhance cognitive function, emotional regulation, and reduce neuroinflammation, offering promising therapeutic options for neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric conditions.

This review explores how prebiotics and probiotics modulate the gut microbiome to enhance bone health, improve calcium absorption, and reduce bone loss, suggesting these could be valuable adjuncts to traditional treatments for bone diseases.

This review discusses how prebiotics, such as GOS and inulin, influence gut microbiota and improve depression symptoms through mechanisms like neurotransmitter synthesis and inflammation regulation. The findings are promising but call for more rigorous clinical trials.

This study evaluates the impact of prebiotics, probiotics, and synbiotics on mental health. It found that a high-prebiotic diet improved mood, anxiety, and stress, while probiotics and synbiotics showed minimal effects, highlighting the potential of dietary interventions in mental health management.

This review discusses the potential of probiotics and prebiotics in modulating the gut-brain axis, focusing on their effects on mental disorders like depression and anxiety.

This review highlights the beneficial role of probiotics in managing metabolic diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension. It explores how probiotics improve gut health, regulate metabolic processes, and reduce inflammation, offering a promising and sustainable approach to treating these conditions.

The review explores the role of prebiotics and probiotics in gut health, highlighting their impact on immunity, metabolic health, and disease prevention. It emphasizes the potential benefits of functional foods enriched with these components, offering a promising avenue for managing chronic health conditions.

This clinical trial demonstrates that prebiotic and probiotic supplementation, in addition to a weight-loss diet, can improve body composition, metabolic parameters, and psychological health in obese individuals, with notable improvements in insulin resistance and muscle strength.

This review explores recent advancements in prebiotic research, highlighting their impact on gut health, immune function, metabolism, and mental well-being. It discusses emerging prebiotics, the development of synbiotics, and innovations in delivery systems like microencapsulation, suggesting a promising future for personalized prebiotic-based therapies.

This review highlights the role of prebiotics in modulating gut microbiota, enhancing gut health, and alleviating conditions like obesity and IBD. It emphasizes the benefits of prebiotics like inulin and FOS and introduces the concept of synbiotics, combining prebiotics and probiotics for optimal gut health.

This review explores the health benefits of prebiotic dietary fibers, highlighting their ability to modulate gut microbiota, enhance immune function, and improve digestive health through fermentation. It examines the regulatory challenges and outlines the promising potential of various prebiotics like FOS, inulin, and GOS in clinical applications.

This review evaluates the therapeutic potential of probiotics, prebiotics, and postbiotics in managing gut-related diseases. It explores their mechanisms, effectiveness in clinical trials, and their future role in personalized medicine to improve gut health and treat conditions such as IBS, obesity, and neuropsychiatric disorders.

This review updates the definition of prebiotics, expanding their scope beyond the gut to include other body sites and highlighting their selective impact on microbiota to confer health benefits.

This review revisits the concept of prebiotics, defining the criteria for classification and highlighting the importance of gut microbiota composition in determining the prebiotic effect. It introduces the prebiotic index as a more accurate measure and underscores the need for further research to optimize prebiotics for health benefits.

Prebiotics are non-digestible fibers that selectively promote the growth of beneficial gut bacteria, offering a range of health benefits from improved digestion and immune function to enhanced metabolic health. Prebiotics are an essential part of a healthy diet that supports both gut and overall well-being.

This review explores the potential of glutathione supplementation in improving antibiotic efficacy and immune responses in HIV-M.tb co-infection, particularly in CNS cases.

This study examines how glutathione influences T cell function in HIV and tuberculosis co-infection. It reveals that restoring GSH levels enhances cytokine production and controls M. tb growth, suggesting therapeutic potential for GSH-based interventions in HIV-infected individuals.

This review examines the crucial role of glutathione in sepsis, emphasizing its function in managing oxidative stress, modulating immune responses, and preventing organ dysfunction. It suggests that glutathione-targeted therapies could offer new opportunities for improving patient outcomes in sepsis.

This review examines how glutathione (GSH) and other thiols regulate bacterial virulence and pathogenesis. It discusses their role in modulating virulence factors, biofilm formation, and host immune interactions, suggesting that targeting GSH pathways could be a novel approach for treating bacterial infections.

This review investigates the role of reactive oxygen species in endometriosis, linking oxidative stress to infertility and pain. It suggests antioxidants as potential therapeutic strategies for disease management.

This review highlights the critical role of metabolic reprogramming in rheumatoid arthritis, where immune cells’ altered metabolism contributes to chronic inflammation and tissue damage, suggesting new therapeutic targets.

This review explores the role of glutathione in chronic illness development, highlighting its function in oxidative stress defense and mitochondrial health. It discusses the potential for GSH augmentation using NAC to improve outcomes in conditions such as metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative disorders.

This review highlights glutathione’s key role in protecting plants from metal-induced oxidative stress, focusing on its functions in metal chelation, antioxidative defense, and signaling. GSH’s involvement in metal homeostasis and its regulation of cellular responses to metal stress suggest potential strategies for enhancing plant resilience and improving phytoremediation.

What Was Studied?This study examined the protective effect of glutathione (GSH) against oxidative stress-induced cytotoxicity in RAW 264.7 macrophage cells, with a focus on its role in mitigating DNA damage, apoptosis, and mitochondrial dysfunction caused by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The researchers investigated how glutathione activates the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway to protect cells from oxidative damage. […]

This study explores the role of glutathione in Streptococcus suis’s resistance to oxidative stress and its contribution to virulence. Deletion of the gshAB and gshT genes significantly impairs oxidative stress tolerance, growth, and virulence, suggesting glutathione as a potential target for therapeutic intervention.

This review explores the critical roles of amino acids in regulating immune cell metabolism and function, emphasizing their potential for modulating immune responses in cancer, infections, and autoimmune diseases. Targeting amino acid metabolism could offer new therapeutic opportunities, but more research is needed to understand these complex mechanisms.

This review analyzes methods for boosting glutathione (GSH) levels, including supplementation, Nrf2 activation, cysteine prodrugs like NACET, and dietary approaches. While promising, further clinical research is needed to confirm their efficacy for treating oxidative stress-related diseases.

This review connects immune-stressing mechanisms, like glucose limitation, oxygen deprivation, and ROS production, to pathogen control during infection. It highlights how the immune system exploits metabolic stress to restrict pathogen growth, offering insights into new therapeutic strategies targeting immune metabolism.

This study shows that glutathione preserves regulatory T cell function by limiting serine metabolism, preventing mTOR overactivation, and maintaining FoxP3 expression.

This review shows that glutathione depletion drives immune dysfunction in HIV by disrupting T-cell balance, gut immunity, and pathogen control, while supplementation restores immune signaling and reduces inflammation.

This review shows that glutathione restores immune balance, limits oxidative stress, and improves host defense against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.

This review links oxidative stress, ferroptosis, immune activation, pain, and emerging gut microbiome changes to endometriosis progression and severity.

This study shows that glutathione depletion in hepatic tuberculosis increases oxidative stress, disrupts immune signaling, damages granulomas, and promotes Mycobacterium tuberculosis survival.

This review explains how glutathione deficiency worsens immune dysfunction, oxidative stress, and inflammation during severe COVID-19 and highlights its role in disease severity.

This study shows that glutathione enhances M1-like macrophage activation while controlling oxidative stress through Nrf2-HO-1 signaling, supporting balanced immune defense.

This review explains how macrophage activation, metabolism, and signaling control immune responses in infection, inflammation, and cancer.

This review explains how neutrophils generate reactive oxygen species through NADPH oxidase and how bacteria resist oxidative killing, with clinical relevance for infection susceptibility and inflammation.

This review explains how reactive oxygen species regulate innate immune signaling through controlled protein oxidation, shaping macrophage and neutrophil function in inflammation and disease.

What was studied?This original research studied how endogenous glutathione (GSH) shapes innate immune signaling in macrophages beyond its antioxidant role. The authors tested whether severe intracellular GSH depletion changes inflammatory gene expression or instead redirects signaling toward antiviral pathways. They focused on toll-like receptor 4 activation using lipopolysaccharide and examined transcriptional responses, redox status, and […]

This review explains natural-compounds-glutathione control by polyphenols, terpenoids, and glucosinolates. It shows how these compounds can raise or deplete GSH, shift NRF2-ARE signaling, change GSH enzymes, and alter cancer stress responses in a dose- and context-dependent way.

What was reviewed?This review covered glutathione homeostasis by explaining how it protects cells from reactive oxygen species, reactive nitrogen species, and electrophiles, and by mapping the main control points that set GSH levels in tissues. The author described GSH structure as a tripeptide with a reactive cysteine thiol and an unusual γ-glutamyl bond that limits […]

This review explains glutathione synthesis regulation through cysteine supply, GCL/GS control, and transcriptional networks that include Nrf2, AP-1, and NFκB. It links disease states such as cholestasis, endotoxemia, fibrosis, diabetes, and alcoholism to reduced enzyme expression and depleted GSH.

This review explains glutathione-related enzymes inflammation by detailing how glutathione-dependent enzymes regulate redox balance, detoxification, and inflammatory signaling across tissues exposed to oxidative stress.

This review explains how glutathione-and-microbiome-inflammation fits into redox control, immune sensing, and chronic inflammation. It links GSH depletion with lung disease, atherosclerosis, and severe COVID-19 through ROS, cytokines, NF-κB, and Nrf2 pathways.

Glutathione, the body’s most important intracellular antioxidant, plays a far-reaching role in the immune system that goes beyond simply neutralizing oxidative stress. As a crucial player in nutritional immunity, glutathione helps regulate nutrient competition between the host and pathogens, ensuring that pathogens are deprived of essential nutrients, like cysteine, that are critical for their survival. Through its involvement in redox signaling, cytokine production, and immune cell activation, glutathione contributes to immune resilience, particularly under nutrient-limited conditions.

This study demonstrates the promising role of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) as an adjunct treatment for perianal fistulas in Crohn’s disease. It shows substantial improvements in fistula healing, disease activity, and inflammatory markers, with sustained effects over 9 months post-treatment.

This review explores the potential role of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) in Crohn’s disease and examines the benefits of anti-MAP therapy (AMT) in treating refractory disease. It discusses recent findings, clinical trial outcomes, and the promising use of novel drug formulations targeting MAP.

This review explores phage therapy as a promising treatment for liver diseases linked to gut microbiota imbalances. It highlights key findings on how phages target harmful bacteria, restoring microbiome balance and improving liver function.

This review examines the impact of dietary zinc on gut microbiota and its role in Clostridium difficile infection. Excess zinc is shown to alter microbiota composition and increase disease severity, underscoring the importance of regulating zinc intake in high-risk populations.

The review explores the role of gut microbiota in immune regulation and pathogen resistance, particularly in inflammatory diseases like IBD. It highlights the effects of microbiota dysbiosis and the potential for therapeutic interventions to manage gut inflammation.

This review examines the impact of iron therapy on oxidative stress and the intestinal microbiota in IBD, highlighting the complexities of managing iron deficiency in these patients. It emphasizes the need for careful iron therapy management to avoid exacerbating oxidative stress and microbial imbalance.

This study examines the genome sequences of copper-resistant Enterococcus faecalis strains isolated from copper-fed pigs. It identifies key resistance genes, highlighting the potential for co-transfer of copper and antibiotic resistance, with implications for agricultural practices and pathogen control.

Copper’s dual role as both an antimicrobial and essential micronutrient plays a significant part in the host-pathogen interaction, with pathogens evolving resistance mechanisms while hosts leverage copper to combat infections. This study offers insights into how copper impacts infection biology, potentially informing new therapeutic strategies.

This study links the Cu/Zn ratio with markers of disease activity in IBD, suggesting it as a potential biomarker for disease monitoring. It emphasizes the role of zinc and copper deficiencies in IBD progression.

The study reveals a higher prevalence of zinc deficiency in Crohn’s disease patients compared to healthy controls. While serum zinc levels did not differ significantly between groups, the increased deficiency rate in CD highlights the need for zinc monitoring and potential supplementation in these patients.

This review explores siderophore-mediated iron acquisition in the gut, its role in bacterial growth, and its impact on microbial community dynamics and host immunity, with implications for IBD, infections, and colorectal cancer.

This study highlights the high prevalence of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in Crohn’s disease patients and its association with worse hospitalization outcomes, including longer stays, higher costs, and more readmissions. The findings stress the need for early IDA screening and management in this population.

This study reveals altered fecal bile acid composition in IBD patients, especially UC, suggesting the potential of bile acids as biomarkers for disease severity and differentiation between UC and CD.

This study links gut microbiota dysbiosis with bile acid composition changes in Crohn’s disease. The altered microbial and bile acid profiles may play a significant role in disease progression, offering potential therapeutic avenues.