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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 7, 2020; 26(21): 2768-2780
Published online Jun 7, 2020. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v26.i21.2768
Gut microbiome in primary sclerosing cholangitis: A review
Rebecca Little, Eytan Wine, Binita M Kamath, Anne M Griffiths, Amanda Ricciuto
Rebecca Little, Binita M Kamath, Anne M Griffiths, Amanda Ricciuto, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada
Eytan Wine, Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, 7-142H Katz Group – Rexall Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 1C9, Canada
Author contributions: Ricciuto A contributed to paper conception, drafting the manuscript and revising the manuscript; Little R contributed to literature review and drafting the manuscript; Wine E, Griffiths AM and Kamath BM contributed to revising the manuscript; all authors approved the final manuscript as submitted.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Dr. Kamath BM reports - Consultant Shire, Albireo and Mirum since they make ASBT inhibitors. All other authors no disclosures to report.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Amanda Ricciuto, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada. amanda.ricciuto@sickkids.ca
Received: December 30, 2019
Peer-review started: December 30, 2019
First decision: January 13, 2020
Revised: March 27, 2020
Accepted: May 26, 2020
Article in press: May 26, 2020
Published online: June 7, 2020
Core Tip

Core tip: The frequent coexistence of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) points to the gut-liver axis as central to pathogenesis. The gut microbiome is hypothesized to be involved. A growing body of literature supports that PSC and PSC-IBD are associated with a distinct gut microbiome and more recent animal studies suggest a potential causal relationship. Microbial metabolites, such as bile acids, may mediate the effects of the gut microbiota in PSC. A sound understanding of the PSC microbiome has the potential to inform the development of microbe-altering therapeutic interventions.