Regulation of immune cell function by short-chain fatty acids

By R. Corrêa-Oliveira, J. Fachi, A. Vieira, F. T. Sato, M. Vinolo. Clinical & Translational Immunology, 2016

1,191 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Short‐chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are bacterial fermentation products, which are chemically composed by a carboxylic acid moiety and a small hydrocarbon chain. Among them, acetic, propionic and butyric acids are the most studied, presenting, respectively, two, three and four carbons in their chemical structure. These metabolites are found in high concentrations in the intestinal tract, from where they are uptaken by intestinal epithelial cells (IECs). The SCFAs are partially used as a source of ATP by these cells. In addition, these molecules act as a link between the microbiota and the immune system by modulating different aspects of IECs and leukocytes development, survival and function through activation of G protein coupled receptors (FFAR2, FFAR3, GPR109a and Olfr78) and by modulation of the activity of enzymes and transcription factors including the histone acetyltransferase and deacetylase and the hypoxia‐inducible factor. Considering that, it is not a surprise, the fact that these molecules and/or their targets are suggested to have an important role in the maintenance of intestinal homeostasis and that changes in components of this system are associated with pathological conditions including inflammatory bowel disease, obesity and others. The aim of this review is to present a clear and updated description of the effects of the SCFAs derived from bacteria on host immune system, as well as the molecular mechanisms involved on them.

Subfields: Food Science, Molecular Biology, Physiology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/685dcc7a21746f133b66697e4df12469c9c2b573

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Citations in the corpus

Short Chain Fatty Acids (SCFAs)-Mediated Gut Epithelial and Immune Regulation and Its Relevance for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (2019, background): “Butyrate is a primary energy source for colonocytes and also maintains intestinal homeostasis through anti-inflammatory actions (17, 18).”
Short chain fatty acids and its producing organisms: An overlooked therapy for IBD? (2021, background): “Yet, these different observations seem to be dependent on the studied tissue, the applied stimulations, and environmental conditions [28].”
Metabolomics for Investigating Physiological and Pathophysiological Processes. (2019, background): “It can enhance glucagon and insulin expression in the pancreas (373), alter thyroid hormone binding in the thyroid gland (260), increase growth hormone secretion from the pituitary gland (322), and activate the innate immune system through the increased expression of numerous antimicrobial peptides ”
Free Fatty Acid Receptors in Health and Disease. (2020, background): “Several studies have indicated that FFAR2 is associated with leukocyte migration and cytokine secretion, suggesting that the anti-inflammatory effects of SCFAs are mediated by FFAR2 (14, 57, 295).”