MINI REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Mucosal Immunity
This article is part of the Research TopicHost-Pathogen Interactions in Mucosal ImmunologyView all 6 articles
The Role of Clostridium butyricum and Its Metabolites in Modulating Gut Mucosal Immunity: Implications for Viral Infections and Inflammatory Diseases
Provisionally accepted
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
With global viral emergence and increasing antiviral resistance, there is an urgent need for innovative immunomodulatory strategies. Gut microbiota modulation has gained attention as a promising therapeutic approach. Clostridium butyricum (C. butyricum) plays a pivotal role in shaping microbial composition, preserving intestinal barrier integrity, and enhancing mucosal immunity. Its major metabolites, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), further strengthen mucosal defenses and exert antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects. This review proposes a unified “gut-centric hypothesis” that intestinal barrier integrity, microbial homeostasis, and mucosal immune balance collectively determine the host’s resilience to viral invasion and inflammation. The collective findings delineate a mechanistic axis whereby C. butyricum orchestrates antiviral and anti-inflammatory immunity through the induction of type I/III interferons, modulation of inflammasome signaling, and expansion of regulatory immune populations, reinforcing its therapeutic promise. This review provides a new conceptual framework linking probiotic action to antiviral immunity, identifying C. butyricum as a potential next-generation microbial therapeutic for viral and inflammatory diseases.
Keywords: Antiviraleffects, Clostridium butyricum, intestinal barrier, mucosal immunity, Relieve inflammation, short-chain fatty acids
Received: 09 Dec 2025; Accepted: 02 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Qian, Li, Ye, Lu, Sha, Zhang, XU, Song and Li. 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:
Shaoju Qian
Ruixue Li
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.