Current Capabilities of Gut Microbiome-Based Diagnostics and the Promise of Clinical Application

There is increasing evidence for the importance of the gut microbiome in human health and disease. Traditional and modern technologies - from cell culture to next generation sequencing - have facilitated these advances in knowledge. Each of the tools employed in measuring the microbiome exhibits unique capabilities that may be leveraged for clinical diagnostics. However, much still needs to be done to standardize the language and metrics by which a microbiome is characterized. Here we review the capabilities of gut microbiome-based diagnostics, review selected examples, and discuss the outlook towards clinical application.

Automated summary

There is increasing recognition of the significance of the gut microbiome in human health and disease. Traditional and modern technologies have advanced our knowledge in this field, but standardizing the language and metrics for characterizing the microbiome is still a work in progress. The capabilities of gut microbiome-based diagnostics are promising for clinical applications, with selected examples demonstrating their potential impact.