Currently, there are limited therapeutic options available for the treatment of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). The most effective approach to date is weight loss. Bariatric surgery (BS), which leads to significant reductions in body weight in patients with severe obesity, is associated with substantial histopathological improvements in advanced stages of MASLD, including steatohepatitis (MASH) and liver fibrosis. Furthermore, BS is known to induce significant taxonomical and functional alterations in gut microbiota, which are believed to play a pivotal role in the metabolic improvements observed after BS. Additionally, emerging evidence underscores the potential link between changes in gut microbiota following BS and the resolution of MASH/fibrosis.

In this project, our objective is to investigate whether the resolution of MASH/fibrosis following BS is linked to specific alterations in the gut microbiota and microbial-derived metabolites. This prospective study involves a cohort of individuals with morbid obesity who are recruited for a bariatric intervention. We will utilize well-established metagenomic and metabolomic platforms in our laboratory for this research.