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

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) is alarmingly increasing worldwide, urgently calling for a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms in order to step up prevention and improve therapeutic approaches. It is becoming evident that the gut microbiota seem to have an endless capacity to impact T2D. In this study, we profile the gut microbiome patterns in T2D patients from Romania, by using quantitative Real-Time PCR and next generation sequencing. We enrolled a total of 150 individuals (105 T2D patients, 50 of them without metformin treatment and 45 healthy volunteers). The levels of potentially beneficial butyrate-producing bacteria were significantly reduced, while potentially pathogenic microorganisms such as Enterobacteriaceae and Fusobacterium were enriched in T2D patients. We evaluated the correlation between clinical parameters and gut microbiota and identified the genera Bacteroides, Alistipes, Dialister, Bilophila and Sutterella as possible detrimental factors in T2D. Our findings suggest that the gut microbiota may be a potential target in novel approaches to halt the development of T2D-associated complications.

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

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.