Additionally, negative associations were identified between chemokines (e.g., CXCL6 and CCL20) and certain bacteria like Eubacterium rectale, Streptococcus, and Eikenella. Although pioneering in using longitudinal multi-omics profiling to identify differences between patients with IBD and non-IBD controls, the study was limited by a heterogeneous population and simple correlation methodology, which failed to reveal mechanistic insights regarding specific HMIs contributing to IBD pathogenesis. Here, CCL20 is linked to inflammatory bowel disease.