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MINI REVIEW article

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Extra-intestinal Microbiome
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1535394
This article is part of the Research Topic Microbiome-based metabolomics revolution in health and microbial metabolites redefinition View all 10 articles

Challenges and limitations in using bacterial metabolites as immunomodulators

Provisionally accepted
Saravanan Chinnashanmugam Saravanan Chinnashanmugam 1Nandana Gopinath Nandana Gopinath 2Ganesan Raja Ganesan Raja 3Thirumurugan Durairaj Thirumurugan Durairaj 3*
  • 1 MicroPros Lab Inc., Edmonton, Canada
  • 2 School of Biotechnology, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University,, Kollam, Kerala, India
  • 3 SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Harnessing the immunomodulatory potential of bacterial metabolites opens up exciting possibilities for treating various immune-related disorders. However, turning this potential into a reality presents significant challenges. This review investigates these challenges, focusing on discovery, production, characterization, stability, formulation, safety, and individual variability limitations. The limited bioavailability of many metabolites, as well as potential improvements along with the potential for off-target effects and the importance of precise targeting, are emphasized. Furthermore, the complex interactions between gut bacterial metabolites and the microbiome are investigated, highlighting the importance of personalized approaches. We conclude by discussing promising advances in metagenomics, metabolomics, synthetic biology, and targeted delivery systems, which hold out hope for overcoming these limitations and paving the way for the clinical translation of bacterial metabolites as effective immunomodulators.

    Keywords: Gut bacterial metabolites, microbiome, immunomodulators, Metagenomics, Synthetic Biology

    Received: 27 Nov 2024; Accepted: 09 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Chinnashanmugam, Gopinath, Raja and Durairaj. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Thirumurugan Durairaj, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.