Gut microbiome in liver disease
A diverse community of microbes resides in the human intestine to maintain the homeostasis of metabolic status and immune response in the host. Dysbiosis of intestinal flora was noted in a wide range of disease, including obesity, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, carcinogenesis and liver diseases. Here we review the current knowledge of the gut flora under liver pathogenesis, including non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) non alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) alcohol induced liver disease and hepatitis B virus (HBV) induced liver cirrhosis. Liver malfunction leads to heavily altered genetic composition of gut microbial, while distinct bacterial species are present during liver pathogenesis, and the abundance of bacteria is correlated with grade of liver disease, suggesting the key role of "gut liver axis" Further, we also discuss the high throughput sequencing technology with status of art as well as the future challenges in this emerging field of gut microbiome.