The Gut Microbiome of Adults With Type 1 Diabetes and Its Association With the Host Glycemic Control

Abstract

OBJECTIVE Previous studies have demonstrated an association between gut microbiota composition and type 1 diabetes (T1D) pathogenesis. However, little is known about the composition and function of the gut microbiome in adults with longstanding T1D or its association with host glycemic control. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We performed a metagenomic analysis of the gut microbiome obtained from fecal samples of 74 adults with T1D, 14.6 ± 9.6 years following diagnosis, and compared their microbial composition and function to 296 age-matched healthy control subjects (1:4 ratio). We further analyzed the association between microbial taxa and indices of glycemic control derived from continuous glucose monitoring measurements and blood tests and constructed a prediction model that solely takes microbiome features as input to evaluate the discriminative power of microbial composition for distinguishing individuals with T1D from control subjects. RESULTS Adults with T1D had a distinct microbial signature that separated them from control subjects when using prediction algorithms on held-out subjects (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.89 ± 0.03). Linear discriminant analysis showed several bacterial species with significantly higher scores in T1D, including Prevotella copri and Eubacterium siraeum, and species with higher scores in control subjects, including Firmicutes bacterium and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (P < 0.05, false discovery rate corrected for all). On the functional level, several metabolic pathways were significantly lower in adults with T1D. Several bacterial taxa and metabolic pathways were associated with the host’s glycemic control. CONCLUSIONS We identified a distinct gut microbial signature in adults with longstanding T1D and associations between microbial taxa, metabolic pathways, and glycemic control indices. Additional mechanistic studies are needed to identify the role of these bacteria for potential therapeutic strategies.

Impact of Nutritional Factors in Blood Glucose Prediction in Type 1 Diabetes Through Machine Learning

“…Consistently with the findings in [45], [53], [57], it results that some nutritional factors (such as fibers and lipids) can have a greater impact in middle term prediction respect to other ones.…”

Characterizations of the Gut Bacteriome, Mycobiome, and Virome in Patients with Osteoarthritis

“…For example, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii is a typical butyrate-producing bacterium in the gut ( 31 ), and butyrate could inhibit the inflammatory response through the NF-κB signaling pathway ( 32 ) and promote human health. Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and Roseburia inulinivorans were significantly reduced in the gut microbiotas of Crohn’s disease and type 1 diabetes patients compared to those in healthy individuals ( 33 , 34 ). Consistently, data from the Xiangya Osteoarthritis Study showed that a lower relative abundance of the genus Roseburia was associated with symptomatic hand OA ( 35 ).…”

The gut microbiome: a core regulator of metabolism

“…A metagenomic analysis of 74 T1DM patients and 296 healthy controls showed microbial differences between groups; P. copri and Eubacterium siraeum were more common in T1DM, whereas Firmicutes and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii were more prevalent in controls. In this study, altered bacterial species and metabolic pathways were associated with host glycemic control ( Shilo et al 2022 ). Thus, changes in gut microbiota and the ambient environment might be associated with T1DM development.…”

“…Shimokawa et al reported that Ruminococcus spp. might prevent the onset of T1DM by inducing CD8+ regulatory T cells ( Shimokawa et al 2020 ), suggesting a close interaction between the microbiota and immune system and the onset of T1DM. This evidence clearly implicates the involvement of microbiota in glucose metabolism.…”