Rigorous donor screening is fundamental for the safe and effective delivery of faecal microbiota transplantion (FMT) services, whether in the treatment of infection or within microbiome intervention clinical trials. Donor screening is of paramount importance given the potential risk of pathogen transmission-a feared complication. While rare in practice, documented cases of FMT-associated infections have resulted in significant morbidity and even mortality. Despite the importance of screening, evidence-based approaches to developing donor-screening protocols are lacking. Inadequate screening for transmissible pathogens may lead to infections in recipients, while overly cautious screening for pathogens with negligible transmission potential could strain healthcare resources and unnecessarily exclude donors, who are already in limited supply. This review aimed to evaluate the evidence underpinning current FMT donor screening protocols. We began by comparing protocols from major FMT guidelines and manufacturers, highlighting their differences in lists of screened pathogens, laboratory assays and clinical characteristics used for donor selection. We critically appraised the existing literature on transmission dynamics for pathogens. These findings were incorporated into a Delphi process with an expert panel group to develop a rational and streamlined screening approach. We further emphasised the importance of maintaining transparency with regard to donor recruitment, screening, monitoring and traceback record keeping. Finally, we explored future directions in donor screening, including approaches to monitoring emerging pathogens and the potential for integration of new technologies, such as metagenomic assays, to enhance and refine donor selection.

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection disproportionately affects people living with HIV, who are often excluded from functional cure studies.

Bacterial translocation in cirrhosis can trigger infection and hepatic decompensation, leading to systemic inflammation, organ failure and increased mortality. These infections often originate from the gastrointestinal tract after bacteria breach the intestinal barrier and disseminate to systemic sites.

Acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding (AUGIB) is a common medical emergency with evolving demographics and management strategies, particularly in medical/endoscopic therapy and transfusion strategies.

Eosinophilic oesophagitis (EoE) is a chronic allergic disease characterised by oesophageal epithelial remodelling, barrier dysfunction and inflammation. The transcription factor forkhead box M1 (FOXM1) has been shown to be a key regulator of epithelial proliferation and inflammation in allergic asthma.

Postdischarge morbidity and mortality is high in acute pancreatitis (AP) and pathophysiological mechanisms remain poorly understood.

Chronic HBV infection remains a major global health burden, with current antiviral therapies effectively suppressing viral replication but rarely achieving functional cure. Adaptive immunity is central to viral clearance but is profoundly impaired during chronic infection. Inducing and enhancing adaptive immunity through therapeutic vaccines, immune checkpoint inhibitors or T cell-based therapies represents a promising approach for HBV cure strategies. However, recent preclinical and clinical studies have demonstrated only limited efficacy, underscoring major immunological challenges. In this review, we summarise current knowledge of the correlates of viral clearance and persistence, discuss key unresolved questions and outline future research directions needed to advance immune-based HBV cure strategies.

Endometriosis is a debilitating gynaecological disorder with an elusive pathogenesis. While gut microbiota dysbiosis has been implicated, the causal role of gut-peritoneum microbial translocation and the specific mechanisms driving disease progression remain elusive. Notably, the role of peritoneal neutrophils and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in the development of endometriosis remains unknown.

Chronic stress is a known risk factor for cancer metastasis. However, the underlying mechanisms, particularly those involving the gut microbiota and their metabolites, remain unclear.

Depending on the colorectal cancer (CRC) screening programme, a colonoscopy should be performed within 1-3 months after a positive faecal immunochemical test (FIT) result. However, such short timescales may be difficult to meet and seem trivial when most CRCs take years to develop.

IBD has become a global disease in the 21st century that shifts through four epidemiological stages. Alterations in the gut microbiome consisting of a complex multikingdom community of bacteria, fungi and viruses are strongly linked to disease pathogenesis. Advances in sequencing technologies, multiomics integration and experimental approaches have shed new insights into host-microbiota interactions in IBD and characterised mechanisms through which the microbiota and its metabolites contribute to disease. We review the evolution of microbiome-based research, with a focus on genetic and environmental factors affecting the gut microbiota, the role of cross-kingdom microbiome and their bioproducts in disease development and new strategies by which microbiome-based approaches can be used to diagnose, monitor, prevent and treat IBD.

The prevalence of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is rapidly increasing with high risk to develop cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and other end-stage liver diseases. However, only two drugs, resmetirom and semaglutide, have been approved by the US food and drug administration (FDA) for the treatment of MASLD, with relative low efficient and obvious side effects. Nanomaterials emerged with constantly growing availability of disease therapy benefiting from their well biocompatibility and appropriate properties.