Biological Effects of Antibiotic-induced Alterations in Gut Microbiota

Abstract

A variety of antibiotics have been developed and their activities improved since the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming. At present, antibiotic drugs are the most important drugs for the treatment of many infectious diseases caused by pathogenic bacteria fulfilling Koch’s postulates. Current major challenges in medicine are to establish preventive and treatment strategies for chronic inflammatory diseases such as allergic disease, inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune disease, and non-communicable diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes. Recent advances in gut microbiota research have led to numerous discoveries showing that gut commensal bacteria play essential roles in the development and regulation of the host immune system. There is accumulating evidence that the imbalance of compositions or functions of gut microbiota (termed as dysbiosis) is associated with the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory diseases. This review summarizes the pros and cons of antibiotic treatments altering gut microbiota in dysbiosis-associated diseases.