Thanks to the so-called “microbiota revolution” we have learned that the microbiome can be considered as a human organ. It colonizes the digestive system during the first years of life, bringing with itself 1.5/2 million genes which add up to those of the human genome and are necessary to the correct functioning of the organism.
In this context, the microbiome clinic is a new multidisciplinary structure with a fundamental objective: making the knowledge on the intestinal microbiome available to patients. In fact, understanding the microbiota is somehow changing modern medicine, by confirming its importance in various conditions: rheumatoid arthritis, autism, response to new immunotherapies, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, ulcerative colitis, hepatic encephalopathy, pulmonary fibrosis, syndrome acute coronary artery, etc.
Not only that: the microbiome clinic is a structure where all this knowledge is collected and made accessible to all medical specialists.
Moreover, as explained by Antonio Gasbarrini, director of CEMAD at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome and interviewed on this topic, the microbiome clinic will help us to develop future clinical-diagnostic-therapeutic projects aimed at preventing diseases and/or at curing them. Also, it’s a step forward towards personalized medicine.
