What Could The Mouth, Gut Tell Us About Cirrhosis?

A recent study conducted by researchers at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine predicted that cirrhosis patients would suffer inflammations and need hospitalization after analyzing saliva via a new target for research in a disease that is responsible for roughly 30,000 deaths a year.

The study authors said they believe that the findings could help bring about new information on chronic liver disease and associated microbiota with the network of tiny organisms in the human body, including bacteria and fungi that can either bolster or weaken the immune system.

"It has been believed that most of the pathogenesis of cirrhosis starts in the gut, which is what makes this discovery so fascinating," said Jasmohan S. Bajaj, M.D., associate professor of hepatology in the VCU School of Medicine and Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center, in a news release. "The fact that saliva, along with fluid in the gut, can be an indicator of inflammation tells us that we need to further explore the oral cavity and its connections to liver disease."

The breakdown of defenses in the mucosa of the gut is typically a sign of inflammation in patients with cirrhosis, replacing healthy liver tissue that's then replaced by scar tissue. Yet now, these findings show that another part of the body may also produce warning signs as well.

More than 100 cirrhosis patients from VCU and VA Medical center were examined, 38 of whom had to be hospitalized within 90 days due to flare-ups. Researchers also found that the ratio of good-to-bad microbes were similar in the saliva as in the stool of those who required hospitalization.

Eighty people with and without cirrhosis were focused on in a separate part of the study, showing that those with cirrhosis had impaired salivary defenses that mirrored the immune deficiencies in the gut.

Future studies could help provide tools that might better predict the status of cirrhosis patients, according to researchers.

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the article "Salivary Microbiota Reflects Changes in Gut Microbiota in Cirrhosis with Hepatic Encephalopathy," the journal Hepatology.