REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Microbial Immunology
This article is part of the Research TopicCommunity Series in Interaction between the Gut Flora and Immunity in Intestinal Diseases: Volume IIView all 5 articles
Interaction between gut microbiota and immunity in health and intestinal disease
Provisionally accepted
- Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
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The gut microbiota plays a fundamental role in establishing and maintaining host immune homeostasis through dynamic, bidirectional interactions with the innate and adaptive immune systems. This review synthesizes current knowledge on how commensal microbes guide the development and function of the intestinal immune system. Conversely, we examine how the host immune system, including immunoglobulin A (IgA) and T-cell responses, actively shapes microbial composition and colonization resistance. Disruptions in this equilibrium (dysbiosis) are critically implicated in pathogenesis. We explore the dysbiosis-immune axis in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and colorectal cancer (CRC), highlighting how specific microbial taxa and their metabolites influence disease progression through immune modulation. Furthermore, we discuss how acute infectious insults model the breakdown of this mutualism.
Keywords: Gut Microbiota, Immune homeostasis, adaptive and innate immunity, Dysbiosis, Intestinal disease
Received: 26 Jul 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Meng, Chen, Liu, Li, Zhou, Ma, Yu and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Zihan Yu, yuzihan@tmu.edu.cn
Xin Chen, xchen03@tmu.edu.cn
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