Evidence mapPaperPMID 40624229Full record

ReviewNature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology2025

Gut microbiome in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and associated hepatocellular carcinoma.

Harry Cheuk-Hay Lau, Xiang Zhang, Jun Yu

Abstract readReview
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
42citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

42 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Review
  4. Review
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Gut microbiota in health and disease.Molecular biomedicine · 2026
    Review
  8. Review
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Faecal Cathepsin B and S Are Associated With Liver Disease Severity and Adiposity in MASLD.Liver international : official journal of the International Association for the Study of the Liver · 2026
    Article
  13. Article
  14. Review
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Review
  18. High Dietary Carbonyl Iron Reshapes the Gut Microbiome and Impairs Hepatic Insulin Sensitivity in a Time-Dependent Manner.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2026
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Harry Cheuk-Hay Lau *Institute of Digestive Disease, Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, State Key Laboratory of Digestive Disease, Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, CUHK Shenzhen Research Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3581-2909
Xiang Zhang *Institute of Digestive Disease, Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, State Key Laboratory of Digestive Disease, Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, CUHK Shenzhen Research Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Jun YuInstitute of Digestive Disease, Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, State Key Laboratory of Digestive Disease, Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, CUHK Shenzhen Research Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. junyu@cuhk.edu.hk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3435-6550

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the most prevalent chronic liver disease worldwide, affecting billions of the global population. It can gradually progress to more severe diseases, including steatohepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Studies have highlighted the importance of the gut microbiome in the pathogenesis and progression of MASLD. On the other hand, increasing evidence has revealed the clinical potential of targeting the gut microbiome to treat MASLD. In this Review, we summarize gut microbial alterations in MASLD, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The mechanisms by which a dysregulated gut-liver axis contributes to disease progression are also described, including intestinal barrier dysfunction, chronic inflammation, and altered metabolic pathways (for example, bile acids) and microbial-derived metabolites (for example, short-chain fatty acids, tryptophan derivatives and endogenous ethanol). In addition, we discuss the clinical implications of utilizing the gut microbiome as a diagnostic biomarker and the therapeutic approaches to treat MASLD and related diseases such as faecal microbiota transplantation, probiotics and engineered bacteria, prebiotics and postbiotics, microbial-derived metabolites, antimicrobials and bacteriophages. Finally, we discuss current challenges in basic and translational research on the microbiome in MASLD and propose future directions to drive progress in this field.

Indexed as

Carcinoma, HepatocellularFatty LiverGastrointestinal MicrobiomeLiver NeoplasmsDisease ProgressionDysbiosisFecal Microbiota TransplantationHumans

Identifiers

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.