REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Microbial Immunology
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in Immunity and Microbiome: Exploring Key Interactions and InnovationsView all 20 articles
Gut Microbiota in Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Narrative Review of Mechanisms and Microbiome-Based Therapies
Provisionally accepted
- First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, China
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Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder of gut–brain interaction, and its pathogenesis remains unclear. Dysbiosis of the gut microbiota is associated with IBS. The gut microbiota may modulate IBS symptoms via the epithelial barrier, mucosal immunity, microbial metabolites (e.g., short-chain fatty acids and bile acids), and gut–brain signaling. Currently, dietary approaches, probiotics, prebiotics, rifaximin, and fecal microbiota transplantation show variable benefit; effects are strain-/context-dependent and evidence certainty varies, with adverse-event reporting inconsistent. This narrative review takes a subtype-aware, mechanism-first perspective to summarize microbiota functions, symptom links, and intervention evidence with safety considerations. This review offers new perspectives and insights for precision treatment and microbiome research in IBS.
Keywords: Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Gut Microbiota, immune response, Pathogenesis, fecalmicrobiota transplantation
Received: 29 Aug 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Yuan, Huang and Wang. 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: Xuemei Li, 460782614@qq.com
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