Microbiome, Mycobiome and Related Metabolites Alterations in Patients with Metabolic Syndrome—A Pilot Study

Abstract

Metabolic syndrome (MetSyn) has a rapidly growing worldwide prevalence, affecting over 1 billion people. MetSyn is clustering many pathological conditions, which, untreated, could increase the risk and often lead to more severe metabolic defects such as type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Many data demonstrate the complex role of gut microbiota in the host metabolism, and hence, deciphering the microbiome patterns linked to MetSyn could enable us for novel diagnosis and monitoring markers and for better disease management. Moreover, interventions designed to alter patient microbiome composition may help prevent or decrease morbidity linked with MetSyn. However, the microbiome composition is largely different across geographically distinct populations. Our study investigated the microbiota and mycobiome patterns in Romanian metabolic syndrome patients. We also correlated the identified microbiome–mycobiome patterns with levels of metabolites important for host health such as short chain fatty acids, organic acids, and taurine. We found that MetSyn patients are harboring a microbiome enriched in Enterobacteriaceae, Turicibacter sp., Clostridium coccoides, and Clostridium leptum, while beneficial taxa such as Butyricicoccus sp., Akkermansia muciniphila, and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii were decreased. These microbiome changes were correlated with lower butyrate levels and increased succinate. In terms of mycobiome signatures, MetSyn was associated with a high abundance of Saccharomyces and Aspergillus species. Our data are the first reported on a Romanian population and confirming that the pathogenesis of MetSyn is closely related to gut microbiome and homeostasis.

Snapshot into the Type-2-Diabetes-Associated Microbiome of a Romanian Cohort

“…Moreover, metformin was reported to increase the abundance of A. muciniphila in the gut [ 50 ]. We have previously shown that A. muciniphila abundance is decreased in patients with metabolic syndrome [ 25 ] and we show here that this microbe is significantly reduced in the T2D-associated microbiota. Similar to our findings, Akkermansia abundance was shown to be decreased in Chinese T2D [ 51 ] as well as in a prediabetes Danish cohort [ 27 ].…”

“…In this cross-sectional study, we report significant modifications of the gut microbiome in T2D individuals. We have previously reported that patients with metabolic syndrome have a microbiome enriched in Enterobacteriaceae [ 25 ]. Herein, we show that the microbiome of T2D patients is significantly increased in Enterobacteriaceae , a family of facultatively aerobic microorganisms generally viewed as a marker of gut dysbiosis and inflammation [ 26 ].…”

Succinate aggravates intestinal injury in mice with necrotizing enterocolitis

“…Then, we analyzed the relationship between gut luminal succinate and intestinal flora in samples from human neonates and mouse pups. Our data indicated that there were significantly higher proportions of succinate-producing bacteria, including Enterococcaceae and Escherichia_Shigella ( Gradisteanu Pircalabioru et al., 2022 ), and significantly lower proportions of succinate-consuming bacteria, including Staphylococcaceae , Lactobacillaceae , Staphylococcus and Lactobacillus ( Shima et al., 2022 ) in human neonates with NEC than in control human neonates. Among the model mice, there were significantly higher proportions of succinate-producing bacteria, including Enterococcaceae , Clostridiaceae , Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1 , and Enterococcus ( Phuengjayaem et al., 2020 ) and significantly lower proportions of succinate-consuming bacteria including Lactobacillaceae and Lactobacillus ( Shima et al., 2022 ) in mice with NEC than in those without NEC.…”

The Role of the Mycobiome in Women’s Health

“…Fungi also release metabolites, such as candidalysin, which serve as a cytotoxin that promotes antifungal inflammatory responses and immune system cascades [ 71 ]. Additionally, it has been observed that changes in the mycobiome, which then change the bacterial microbiome, can influence critical metabolites within the body, such as short-chain fatty acids, organic acids, taurine, butyrate, and succinate [ 72 ]. Furthermore, metabolites produced directly by mycobiome fungal colonizers have been linked to shaping host health with metabolic diseases and cancers associated with changes in fungal metabolites [ 53 ].…”