Fungal feelings in the irritable bowel syndrome: the intestinal mycobiome and abdominal pain

ABSTRACT

Although the gut microbiota consists of bacteria, viruses, and fungi, most publications addressing the microbiota-gut-brain axis in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have a sole focus on bacteria. This may relate to the relatively low presence of fungi and viruses as compared to bacteria. Yet, in the field of inflammatory bowel disease research, the publication of several papers addressing the role of the intestinal mycobiome now suggested that these low numbers do not necessarily translate to irrelevance. In this review, we discuss the available clinical and preclinical IBS mycobiome data, and speculate how these recent findings may relate to earlier observations in IBS. By surveying literature from the broader mycobiome research field, we identified questions open to future IBS-oriented investigations.

KEYWORDS:

• Candida albicans
• IBS
• irritable bowel syndrome
• macrophage
• mast cells
• microbiome
• mycobiota
• therapy
• visceral hypersensitivity
• yeast

Disclosure statement

Authors declare no relevant financial or non-financial competing interests.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation [ECCO grant 2019]; Health~Holland [PPP Allowance number LSHM20085];