Insights into the Role of Human Gut Microbiota in Clostridioides difficile Infection

Abstract

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) has emerged as a major health problem worldwide. A major risk factor for disease development is prior antibiotic use, which disrupts the normal gut microbiota by altering its composition and the gut’s metabolic functions, leading to the loss of colonization resistance and subsequent CDI. Data from human studies have shown that the presence of C. difficile, either as a colonizer or as a pathogen, is associated with a decreased level of gut microbiota diversity. The investigation of the gut’s microbial communities, in both healthy subjects and patients with CDI, elucidate the role of microbiota and improve the current biotherapeutics for patients with CDI. Fecal microbiota transplantation has a major role in managing CDI, aiming at re-establishing colonization resistance in the host gastrointestinal tract by replenishing the gut microbiota. New techniques, such as post-genomics, proteomics and metabolomics analyses, can possibly determine in the future the way in which C. difficile eradicates colonization resistance, paving the way for the development of new, more successful treatments and prevention. The aim of the present review is to present recent data concerning the human gut microbiota with a focus on its important role in health and disease.