Editorial: Microbial Therapeutics: Harnessing the Human Microbiome for Disease Treatment and Prevention

Ali Asger Bhojiya^1*Abhinav Saurabh²Devendra Jain^3*

• ¹U.S. Ostwal P.G. College, Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Chittaurgarh, India
• ²National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United States
• ³Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, India

Microbiome science has advanced dramatically during the last ten years, changing our knowledge of human health, disease causation, and precision medicine. Six scholarly contributions-five research reviews and one experimental study-that emphasize the diverse roles of the human microbiome in metabolic regulation, disease etiology, biomarker discovery, and the development of next-generation therapeutics are included under this research topic. When taken collectively, these papers highlight the quickly growing potential of therapies based on microbiomes across a variety of clinical specialties. Ahmed et al. (2025) provide an exhaustive evaluation of microbiome-centric therapies for metabolic disorders in the first article of this research area. They discuss the growth in obesity, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and metabolic syndrome worldwide. The authors describe how metabolic dysfunction is caused by gut dysbiosis, which is characterized by decreased diversity, disturbed synthesis of short-chain fatty acids, increased intestinal permeability, and persistent low-grade inflammation. Probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, postbiotics, engineered microbial consortia, and fecal and vaginal microbiota transplantation are among the novel treatment strategies that are summarized in this review. The authors highlight enduring issues such as interindividual variability, strain specificity, dosage optimization, regulatory monitoring, and the requirement for individualized, multi-omics-integrated therapy regimens despite encouraging pre-clinical and early clinical results. Bautista et al. (2025) provide a comprehensive examination of the human microbiome in clinical translation, from laboratory to clinical application, building on the translational potential of microbiome science. The authors emphasize how microbiome profiling is changing immunological homeostasis, cardiometabolic health, neuropsychiatric disorders, early-life development, and cancer therapeutic responsiveness by utilizing developments in multi-omics, computational modeling, and experimental biology. While addressing important obstacles like high interindividual variability, poor functional annotation, and a lack of validated biomarkers, they also covered innovative treatment approaches, including phage therapy, live biotherapeutics, precision nutrition, and microbiota transplantation.The study emphasizes that in order to fully realize the clinical promise of microbiomedriven therapies, consistent techniques, regulatory harmonization, and long-term cohort studies are required. Upadhyay et al. (2025) investigate the optimization of Lactobacillus rhamnosus CW40's bacteriocin production and assess its antibacterial and therapeutic potential in a study centered on microbial biotherapeutics. The researchers found that strain CW40, which produced an 8 kDa protein with significant antibacterial efficacy against Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, and Escherichia coli, was a powerful bacteriocin producer after screening 47 LAB isolates. At 37°C and pH 7, bacteriocin production was at its peak, with an activity of 4,098 AU/mL. Its proteinaceous composition was confirmed by enzyme sensitivity tests, and the strain showed broad antibiotic resistance and bile salt tolerance. This study emphasizes the potential of bacteriocins derived from CW40 as natural food biopreservatives and therapeutic agents against antibiotic-resistant illnesses and foodborne pathogens. Lastly, a thorough scoping review of third-millennium gut microbiome studies on celiac disease is provided by Luz and Pereira (2024). The authors point out significant variation in sample types, microbiota identification techniques, and reporting standards after examining 48 studies that were published between 2000 and 2023. Even though some patterns, like changed Pseudomonadota abundance, seem to be consistent, inconsistent research makes it difficult to agree on the microbiological markers of celiac disease. To improve repeatability and make it possible to make more accurate predictions about health consequences, the review recommends standardizing sampling techniques, sequencing protocols, bioinformatics workflows, and metadata reporting.In conclusion, microbial therapeutics represent a transformative paradigm in medicine, offering novel opportunities for disease prevention, treatment, and health optimization.