Disordered gut microbiota and alterations in metabolic patterns are associated with atrial fibrillation

Abstract

Background With the establishment of the heart-gut axis concept, accumulating studies suggest that the gut microbiome plays an important role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. Yet, little evidence has been reported in characterizing the gut microbiota shift in atrial fibrillation. Methods We include the result of the global alterations that occur in the intestinal microbiota in a cohort of 50 patients with atrial fibrillation and 50 matched controls based on a strategy of metagenomic and metabolomic analyses. Results The alterations include a dramatic elevation in microbial diversity and a specific perturbation of gut microbiota composition. Overgrowth of Ruminococcus , Streptococcus , and Enterococcus , as well as reduction of Faecalibacterium , Alistipes , Oscillibacter , and Bilophila were detected in patients with atrial fibrillation. A gut microbial function imbalance and correlated metabolic pattern changes were observed with atrial fibrillation in both fecal and serum samples. The differential gut microbiome signatures could be used to identify patients with atrial fibrillation. Conclusions Our findings characterize the disordered gut microbiota and microbial metabolite profiles in atrial fibrillation. Further research could determine whether intervention strategies targeting intestinal microbiome composition might be useful to counteract the progression of atrial fibrillation.

Shifts in gut microbiome and metabolome are associated with risk of recurrent atrial fibrillation

“…In our previous research, disordered GM was shown to be associated with the development of AF [18]. Interestingly, the present study indicated an incremental prognostic accuracy over clinical predictors of the novel predictive model based on GM taxonomic profiles.…”

“…In the current study, we included 90 participants from our previous cohort [18], with 50 non-AF controls (CTRs) and 40 AF patients. All AF cases underwent radiofrequency catheter ablation before feces collection, and the patients remained in sinus rhythm (normal beating of the heart) until the end of the procedure, with confirmed circumferential pulmonary vein isolation (CPVI) and ablation line blockage [4].…”

“…To depict gut microbial gene functions among different AF categories, the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database was applied as described previously by our team [15, 18]. Briefly, the non-RAF and RAF groups could not be distinguished from each other, but were separated clearly when compared with non-AF CTRs by PCA, PCoA, and NMDS plots, which indicated drastic alterations in GM functions between the groups (Fig.…”

“…Forty non-valvular persistent AF (psAF) patients who underwent radiofrequency catheter ablation and 50 non-AF CTRs were included from our previous study [18]. Fecal samples were collected before radiofrequency ablation; the gut microbiome obtained before the ablation procedures was therefore utilized for predicting AF recurrence risk.…”

“…Recently, we have assessed the role of GM in AF. Our team characterized the associations of GM alterations and metabolic patterns with AF by revealing the altered GM and bacteria-associated metabolites identified in AF cases in a previous research [18]. We further designed a random forest disease classifier based on abundances of co-abundance gene groups as variables for building a microbiota-dependent discrimination model for AF detection.…”