Bacteriophage targeting of gut bacterium attenuates alcoholic liver disease.

ABSTRACT: Chronic liver disease due to alcohol-use disorder contributes markedly to the global burden of disease and mortality^1-3. Alcoholic hepatitis is a severe and life-threatening form of alcohol-associated liver disease. The gut microbiota promotes ethanol-induced liver disease in mice⁴, but little is known about the microbial factors that are responsible for this process. Here we identify cytolysin-a two-subunit exotoxin that is secreted by Enterococcus faecalis^5,6-as a cause of hepatocyte death and liver injury. Compared with non-alcoholic individuals or patients with alcohol-use disorder, patients with alcoholic hepatitis have increased faecal numbers of E. faecalis. The presence of cytolysin-positive (cytolytic) E. faecalis correlated with the severity of li

SUBMITTER: Duan Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6872939 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature