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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Christopher StewartORCiD, Professor Chris LambORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2026. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ Group. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. At around 10 years ago, at the time of the first publication by the Gut Microbiota for Health Expert Panel of the British Society of Gastroenterology, recognition of the gut microbiome’s importance in health and disease was transitioning from fringe interest towards major global pursuit. A decade on, we appraise the considerable progress made in the field, while acknowledging ongoing challenges. Earlier human work characterising the 16S rRNA gene amplicon signature of particular conditions in small cohorts has been superseded by larger, multicentre studies with extensive metadata. Studies increasingly employ shotgun metagenomics and other ‘omic’ techniques—coupled with refined bioinformatic tools and disease models—to better characterise perturbation in gut microbiome functionality. The arrival of ‘gold standard’ pipelines for microbiome analysis and increased mechanistic validation of signals are key developments towards more clinically-translatable outcomes. Novel clinical areas where the gut microbiome has relevance have emerged, including early life and the efficacy of certain treatments (including immune checkpoint inhibitors and vaccination). Enthusiasm for ‘microbiome diagnostics and treatments’ has grown, but barriers to widespread adoption remain. Faecal microbiota transplant (FMT) is established for treating recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection, with donor-derived ‘next generation’ FMT products licensed for this condition in certain countries. Beyond FMT, other microbial therapeutic techniques—including nutritional, bacteriophage and probiotic therapies—show promise, but have not fulfilled their high expectations yet. Gut microbiome research is now well-established and shows significant translational potential; the future focus will be translational work to drive its utility in clinical diagnostics, prognostics and therapeutics.
Author(s): Alexander JL, Mullish BH, Thomas L, Weersma RK, Sokol H, Roberts LA, Edwards LA, Emmanuel A, Gerasimidis K, Hall LJ, Iqbal TH, Kinross JM, McIlroy J, Monaghan TM, Sergaki C, Shawcross DL, Stewart CJ, Lamb CA, Williams HRT, Hansen R, Hold G
Publication type: Review
Publication status: Published
Journal: Gut
Year: 2026
Pages: Epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 02/06/2026
Acceptance date: 21/05/2026
ISSN (print): 0017-5749
ISSN (electronic): 1468-3288
Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
URL: https://doi.org/10.1136/gutjnl-2026-338252
DOI: 10.1136/gutjnl-2026-338252
