Targeting CD4+ T cells through gut microbiota: therapeutic potential of traditional Chinese medicine in inflammatory bowel disease

Scritto il 18/03/2025
da Xingyao Lu

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is an autoimmune disease characterized by chronic relapsing inflammation of the intestinal tract. Gut microbiota (GM) and CD4^(+)T cells are important in the development of IBD. A lot of studies have shown that GM and their metabolites like short-chain fatty acids, bile acids and tryptophan can be involved in the differentiation of CD4^(+)T cells through various mechanisms, which in turn regulate the immune homeostasis of the IBD patients. Therefore, regulating...

Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2025 Mar 3;15:1557331. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1557331. eCollection 2025.

ABSTRACT

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is an autoimmune disease characterized by chronic relapsing inflammation of the intestinal tract. Gut microbiota (GM) and CD4+T cells are important in the development of IBD. A lot of studies have shown that GM and their metabolites like short-chain fatty acids, bile acids and tryptophan can be involved in the differentiation of CD4+T cells through various mechanisms, which in turn regulate the immune homeostasis of the IBD patients. Therefore, regulating CD4+T cells through GM may be a potential therapeutic direction for the treatment of IBD. Many studies have shown that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) formulas and some herbal extracts can affect CD4+T cell differentiation by regulating GM and its metabolites. In this review, we mainly focus on the role of GM and their metabolites in regulating the differentiation of CD4+T cells and their correlation with IBD. We also summarize the current research progress on the regulation of this process by TCM.

PMID:40099014 | PMC:PMC11911530 | DOI:10.3389/fcimb.2025.1557331