Roseburia intestinalis is an anaerobic, Gram-positive, slightly curved rod-shaped flagellated bacterium that produces butyrate in the colon. R. intestinalis has been shown to prevent intestinal inflammation and maintain energy homeostasis by producing metabolites. Evidence shows that this bacterium contributes to various diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, antiphospholipid syndrome, and atherosclerosis. This review reveals the potential therapeutic role of R. intestinalis in human diseases. Patients with inflammatory bowel disease exhibit significant changes in R. intestinalis abundance, and they may benefit a lot from modulations targeting R. intestinalis. The data reviewed here demonstrate that R. intestinalis plays its role in regulating barrier homeostasis, immune cells, and cytokine release through its metabolite butyrate, flagellin and other. Recent advancements in the application of primary culture technology, culture omics, single-cell sequencing, and metabonomics technology have improved research on Roseburia and revealed the benefits of this bacterium in human health and disease treatment.

Background and Aims Probiotics was considered as a potential therapy for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) without approval and comprehensive assessment in recent years, which call for a meta-analysis. Methods We performed electronic and manual searches including English and Chinese databases published before April 2019, with the use of mesh term and free text of “nonalcoholic fatty liver disease” and “probiotics.” Clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of probiotic therapy in NAFLD patients were included according to the eligibility criteria. With the use of random effects models, clinical outcomes were presented as weighted mean difference (WMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI), while heterogeneity and meta-regression were also assessed. Results 28 clinical trials enrolling 1555 criterion proven NAFLD patients with the use of probiotics from 4 to 28 weeks were included. Overall, probiotic therapy had beneficial effects on body mass index (WMD: -1.46, 95% CI: [-2.44, -0.48]), alanine aminotransferase (WMD: -13.40, 95% CI: [-17.03, -9.77]), aspartate transaminase (WMD: -13.54, 95% CI: [-17.86, -9.22]), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (WMD: -9.88, 95% CI: [-17.77, -1.99]), insulin (WMD: -1.32, 95% CI: [-2.43, -0.21]), homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (WMD: -0.42, 95% CI: [-0.73, -0.12]), and total cholesterol (WMD: -15.38, 95% CI: [-26.50, -4.25]), but not in fasting blood sugar, lipid profiles, or tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Conclusion The systematic review and meta-analysis support that probiotics are superior to placebo in NAFLD patients and could be utilized as a common complementary therapeutic approach.