Nutrients, Bugs and Us: The Short-chain Fatty Acids Story in Celiac Disease

The gut ecosystem with myriads of microorganisms and the high concentration of immune system cells can be considered as a separate organ on its own. The balanced interaction between the host and microbial cells has been shaped during the long co-evolutionary process. In dysbiotic conditions, however, this balance is compromised and results in abnormal interaction between the host and microbiota. Celiac disease is such an example were dysbiotic and metabolic signature are shaping the disease progression in genetically susceptible individuals. Short chain fatty acids are bacterial originated metabolic messenger between the pathobionts and the intestinal mucosa. Their local luminal effects and systemic ones were just recently unraveled. Accumulating data attribute multiple beneficial effects to them. Changes in microbiota and their short-chain fatty acids production is clearly related to the pathogenesis of celiac disease and might open new therapeutic strategies to combat the disease.