Title : The potential effect of prebiotics, probiotics, postbiotics, synbiotics, and FMT therapies on COVID-19 induced gut dysbiosis
Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed significant challenges to global healthcare systems, with a need for effective therapeutic interventions remaining urgent. Current therapeutic approaches targeting the respiratory system have shown limited success, highlighting the necessity to explore alternative therapies. Emerging evidence suggests that COVID-19 can cause gut dysbiosis through its alteration of microbiota, which may further contribute to the pathogenesis and severity of the disease. In fact, bidirectional communication between the gut and various organs have been observed following COVID-19 infection, and the main organs include the lung, heart, brain, and liver. The studies in this systematic review were extracted from PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, and the Cochrane Library and 21 studies were extracted on pro/pre/synbiotics and FMT as potential interventions for COVID-19. The studies involved 2306 patients, including 1209 in the intervention groups and 1097 in the control groups. The studies extracted included 1 study with prebiotics, 4 studies with single-species probiotics, 9 studies with multispecies probiotics, 4 studies with oropharyngeal probiotics, 2 studies with synbiotics and 1 study with FMT. 7 genera of bacteria/fungi were used in the probiotics and synbiotics, namely Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Streptococcus, Enterococcus, Pediococcus, Bacillus, Saccharomyces and Kluyveromyces. The prebiotics used include quebracho and chestnut tannin, galacto-oligosaccharides, xylooligosaccharide and resistant dextrin. Then, the impact of these interventions on disease severity, gut dysbiosis, and varying COVID associated clinical outcomes was assessed. Most, if not all, of the biotics appeared to have at least one of the following implications: relieve symptoms, reduce inflammation, and reduce mortality. The findings from this review will contribute to the overall understanding of biotics usage as a therapeutic intervention when addressing COVID-19-related gut dysbiosis and secondary, multi-organ complications.
Audience Take Away:
- The audience will learn of key changes in COVID-19 induced gut dysbiosis.
- The audience will learn how gut dysbiosis affects the lungs, liver, heart, and brain.
- The audience will also discover the effects of prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics, postbiotics, and FMT on resolving the gut dysbiosis in COVID-19 patients.
- The audience will learn about current guidelines and future directives about the use of biotics in this field.
