Figure 1.

Microbial dysbiosis drives systemic inflammation by targeting the mucosal barrier. The illustration represents that, during microbial dysbiosis, the gut barrier is leaky, which results in diffusion of microbial metabolites such as lipopolysaccharides into the circulation, causing systemic inflammation. However, healthy microbiome has a balanced microbial composition including potential anti-inflammatory microbes such as Akkermansia muciniphilia and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. These microbes or their metabolites activate TLRs leading to overexpression of tight junction proteins and prevent gut leakage. This leakage is thought to drive systemic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases such as insulin resistance and obesity.