课题组开发了一个度量，生态网络平衡指数（ENBI），量化了积极和消极微生物相互作用之间的平衡。这一指标的灵感来自于该研究组在这项工作中引入的肠道微生物组动力学模型中观察到的现象学，该模型揭示了具有不同新兴微生物群落的替代稳定状态：由负面相互作用主导的健康状态和由积极相互作用主导的生态失调状态。ENBI在跨越多种疾病的模拟和经验数据集中都能区分这些状态，并与结直肠癌等疾病的疾病进展相关，这凸显了其作为诊断工具的潜力。
据了解，人类肠道微生物群失衡或生态失调与多种疾病有关，但人们对其了解甚少。现有的生态失调生物标志物无法捕捉到区分健康和患病微生物组的生态机制。
附：英文原文
Title: Imbalance in gut microbial interactions as a marker of health and disease
Author: Roberto Corral López, Juan A. Bonachela, Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, Michael Manhart, Simon A. Levin, Martin J. Blaser, Miguel A. Muoz
Issue&Volume: 2026-02-26
Abstract: Imbalances in the human gut microbiome, or dysbioses, are associated with multiple diseases but remain poorly understood. Existing biomarkers of dysbiosis fail to capture the ecological mechanisms that differentiate healthy from diseased microbiomes. We have developed a metric, the ecological network balance index (ENBI), that quantifies the balance between positive and negative microbial interactions. This metric was inspired by the phenomenology observed in a model for gut microbiome dynamics that we introduce in this work, which revealed alternative stable states with distinct emergent microbial communities: a healthy state dominated by negative interactions and a dysbiotic state dominated by positive interactions. The ENBI robustly differentiates these states in both simulated and empirical datasets spanning multiple diseases and correlates with disease progression in conditions such as colorectal cancer, which underscores its potential as a diagnostic tool.
DOI: ady1729
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady1729