Karen Pendergrass, Standards Team

This review explores siderophore-mediated iron acquisition in the gut, its role in bacterial growth, and its impact on microbial community dynamics and host immunity, with implications for IBD, infections, and colorectal cancer.

The Microbial Metallomics Theory of Endometriosis proposes that heavy metals, microbial metallophores, and immune dysregulation drive endometriosis progression. This novel framework links environmental toxins, microbiome shifts, and metalloestrogen activity, offering new insights into disease mechanisms and potential treatments, including metal chelation, microbiome modulation, and immune recalibration.

This review discusses nephrolithiasis in Crohn’s disease patients, highlighting the increased risk, pathophysiology, and preventative measures. It emphasizes dietary interventions and fluid intake to reduce the formation of kidney stones.

This paper explores the nutritional status of IBD patients, highlighting common nutrient deficiencies, the importance of early screening, and the role of therapies like infliximab in improving nutritional outcomes.

Dysbiosis in chronic kidney disease (CKD) reflects a shift toward reduced beneficial taxa and increased pathogenic, uremic toxin-producing species, driven by a bidirectional interaction in which the uremic environment disrupts microbial composition and dysbiotic metabolites accelerate renal deterioration.

In MSAP patients with gut dysfunction, lactulose and rhubarb similarly restored intestinal function, but lactulose more effectively reduced TNF-α and IL-6, enriched Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillales, suppressed Escherichia-Shigella and Enterococcus, and enhanced SCFA production, supporting its role as a microbiome-targeted intervention in acute pancreatitis.

Lactulose is a non-absorbable disaccharide composed of galactose and fructose that functions as a prebiotic, a selectively fermented ingredient that promotes the growth of beneficial microorganisms in the gut.

Lactulose improved fecal microflora in CKD patients by significantly increasing Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli while stabilizing renal function. These microbiome shifts counteract dysbiosis-associated toxin generation, supporting lactulose as a clinically relevant microbiome-targeted intervention.

Lactulose improved renal function in adenine-induced CKD rats by lowering uremic toxins, decreasing indole-producing taxa, and enriching Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillales. These microbiome shifts corresponded with reduced fibrosis and oxidative stress, demonstrating lactulose’s potential as a microbiome-targeted intervention for CKD.

This study systematically compares 71 compounds for anti ureolytic activity, linking nickel chelation, transporter specific nickel uptake, and urease inhibition in Klebsiella pneumoniae and recombinant systems to inform rational selection of metallomic strategies against urease positive pathobionts in clinical and environmental settings.

Chelation is a biochemical and pharmacological process in which small-molecule chelating agents bind to metal ions with high affinity to sequester, redistribute, or remove metallic elements from biological systems.

The BBB is a crucial regulatory interface between the circulatory and central nervous systems, and its dysfunction has profound implications for neurodegeneration, inflammation, and systemic disease. Increasing evidence supports the role of the gut microbiome in BBB modulation, highlighting microbiome-targeted therapies as a promising avenue for maintaining neurological health and preventing age-associated cognitive decline.

Unlike antibodies that fight infections by targeting foreign pathogens, autoantibodies mistakenly target the body’s own cells and tissues, attacking what should be recognized as “self”. This loss of immune tolerance represents a fundamental breakdown in one of the immune system’s most important mechanisms: the ability to distinguish between self and non-self.

The Chronic Inflammation Hypothesis suggests that persistent inflammation contributes to the development and progression of various chronic diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disorders.

Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) is an analytical technique used to determine the elemental composition of a sample by ionizing the sample with an inductively coupled plasma and then measuring the mass-to-charge ratio of the ions. ICP-MS is a highly sensitive method, capable of detecting elements at trace and ultra-trace levels, making it valuable […]

Microbiome medicine reframes humans as holobionts and uses microbial signatures, sequencing, and computational tools to guide diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. By targeting microbial functions rather than isolated taxa, it enables genuinely personalized interventions that are already beginning to move from association studies into clinical practice.

Microbiome signatures are reproducible ecological and functional patterns—encompassing traits, interactions, and metabolic functions—that reflect microbial adaptation to specific host or environmental states. Beyond taxonomy, they capture conserved features like metal metabolism or immune modulation, enabling systems-level diagnosis and intervention in health and disease.

Dimethylglyoxime represents a novel therapeutic paradigm that exploits a fundamental metabolic difference between pathogenic bacteria and their mammalian hosts. By selectively depleting bacterial access to nickel, a cofactor essential for multiple pathogenic enzymes but unnecessary for human physiology, DMG offers a theoretically host-sparing antimicrobial approach.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a potent endotoxin present in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria that causes chronic immune responses associated with inflammation.

TMAO is a metabolite formed when gut bacteria convert dietary nutrients like choline and L-carnitine into trimethylamine (TMA), which is then oxidized in the liver to TMAO. This compound is linked to cardiovascular disease, as it promotes atherosclerosis, thrombosis, and inflammation, highlighting the crucial role of gut microbiota in influencing heart health.

This study shows that nickel strongly enhances Aβ40 aggregation, while the nickel chelator dimethylglyoxime inhibits amyloid beta aggregation by sequestering nickel in vitro. It also links nickel to both metal-driven and infection-related Alzheimer’s mechanisms, positioning nickel chelation at the intersection of these pathogenic pathways.

Ni(II) Cd(II) mixed ligand complexes showed broad in vitro antimicrobial activity against key bacterial and fungal pathogens and moderate anti-inflammatory effects via albumin denaturation inhibition, supporting metal chelation as a tunable strategy for targeting dysbiosis associated pathobionts while highlighting significant toxicity related translational constraints.

Microbiome Targeted Interventions (MBTIs) are cutting-edge treatments that utilize information from Microbiome Signatures to modulate the microbiome, revolutionizing medicine with unparalleled precision and impact.

This review highlights gallium’s role as an iron mimic disrupting bacterial iron metabolism, effective against multidrug-resistant pathogens. Innovations in gallium delivery, including nanomaterials and synergistic therapies with antibiotics, address bioavailability challenges and enhance its antimicrobial potency.