REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Disorders : Autoimmune Disorders
This article is part of the Research TopicMicrobiome–Immune Crosstalk in Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Disorders: Mechanisms Across TissuesView all articles
Microbial Transformation of Secondary Bile Acids: Roles in Gut Ecology and Autoimmune Diseases
Provisionally accepted
- 1The First People's Hospital of Qinzhou, Qinzhou, China
- 2Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Guangzhou, China
- 3Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China
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Secondary bile acids (SBAs) attracted interest due to their regulatory functions in gut microbial ecology and immune responses. These intricate microbial transformations decisively shape the biochemical properties of SBAs. Recent advancements in artificial intelligence and mass spectrometry technologies have substantially expanded our understanding of the diversity within the SBAs pool. To date, hundreds of SBAs, a minor portion of the natural SBA repertoire, have been identified, alongside the prediction of tens of thousands of associated enzymes. Integrative multi-omics studies have further substantiated the role of SBAs in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the microbial modification of bile acids, their effects on gut microbial ecology and immune function, with a particular emphasis on autoimmune disorders. Collectively, these findings highlight SBAs as critical regulators of gut microbiota and immune system homeostasis, with their functions intricately linked to their molecular structures.
Keywords: Autoimmune Diseases, Gut Microbiota, Immunomodulation, intestinal ecology, Secondary bile acids
Received: 17 Dec 2025; Accepted: 16 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Ren, Li, Wu, Lin 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:
Linping Wu
Zhiming Lin
Anping Chen
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