J Gastroenterol. 2023 May 9. doi: 10.1007/s00535-023-01997-6.Online ahead of print.

Giovanni Dothel ^# 1 2, Maria Raffaella Barbaro ^# 3, Aldo Di Vito ¹, Gloria Ravegnini ¹, Francesca Gorini ¹, Sarah Monesmith ¹, Emma Coschina ¹, Eva Benuzzi ¹, Daniele Fuschi ³, Marta Palombo ⁴, Francesca Bonomini ⁴, Fabiana Morroni ¹, Patrizia Hrelia ⁵, Giovanni Barbara ^3 4, Sabrina Angelini ^1 6

Author information

¹Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.

²Connect By Circular Lab SRL, Madrid, Spain.

³IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.

⁴Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.

⁵Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. Patrizia.hrelia@unibo.it.

⁶Inter-Departmental Center for Health Sciences & Technologies, CIRI-SDV, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.

^#Contributed equally.

Abstract

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a complex multifactorial condition including alterations of the gut-brain axis, intestinal permeability, mucosal neuro-immune interactions, and microbiota imbalance. Recent advances proposed epigenetic factors as possible regulators of several mechanisms involved in IBS pathophysiology. These epigenetic factors include biomolecular mechanisms inducing chromosome-related and heritable changes in gene expression regardless of DNA coding sequence. Accordingly, altered gut microbiota may increase the production of metabolites such as sodium butyrate, a prominent inhibitor of histone deacetylases. Patients with IBS showed an increased amount of butyrate-producing microbial phila as well as an altered profile of methylated genes and micro-RNAs (miRNAs). Importantly, gene acetylation as well as specific miRNA profiles are involved in different IBS mechanisms and may be applied for future diagnostic purposes, especially to detect increased gut permeability and visceromotor dysfunctions. In this review, we summarize current knowledge of the role of epigenetics in IBS pathophysiology.