Unraveling the gut-liver axis in autoimmune liver disease overlap syndrome: A multi-omics perspective.

Abstract

Autoimmune liver disease overlap syndrome (OS) is a rare and clinically significant condition that has received limited attention in microbiome research. In their recent study, Wang et al combined 16S rRNA sequencing with untargeted metabolomics to characterize the gut-liver axis in OS, identifying shared features of dysbiosis in autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), and unique signatures, including enrichment of Klebsiella and Escherichia and depletion of aromatic amino acids. In this letter, we critically appraise these findings, emphasizing that OS should be considered a distinct immunometabolic phenotype rather than a simple mixture of AIH and PBC. We discuss the potential mechanistic relevance of the Fusicatenibacter-tyrosine relationship, highlight the clinical implications of integrating microbiota-metabolite analyses, and outline the limitations that future studies must address.