AUTHOR=Tang Yuxiu , Chen Liquan , Yang Jin , Zhang Suqing , Jin Jun , Wei Yao 

TITLE=Gut microbes improve prognosis of Klebsiella pneumoniae pulmonary infection through the lung-gut axis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-and-infection-microbiology/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2024.1392376

DOI=10.3389/fcimb.2024.1392376

ISSN=2235-2988

ABSTRACT=Sepsis is one of the most important causes of death in critically ill patients and has a complex and varied pathogenesis; pneumonia is the most common cause of sepsis in clinical practice. The existence of the gut-lung axis points to a protective role that the gut microbes plays a vital role in the development of sepsis and in protecting against pneumonia and correlates with the prognosis of critically ill patients. Here, we found that in contrast to direct antibiotic treatment, faecal microbiota transplantation(FMT) improves the prognosis of mice with pneumonia-derived sepsis caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae by improving the structure of the gut microbes and increasing the level of beneficial metabolites, fatty acids and secondary bile acids, thereby reducing systemic inflammation, repairing the barrier function of alveolar epithelial cells, and alleviating pathological damage to the lungs. The combination of antibiotics with FMT significantly alleviates intestinal microbiota disorder, reduces the selection for drug resistance genes caused by antibiotics, and mitigates lung lesions; these effects are superior to those following antibiotic monotherapy.