AUTHOR=Yan Wei , Ge Ying , Wang Lina , Wang Yuntao , He Daikun 

TITLE=Causal relationship of gut microbiota with diabetic nephropathy: a Mendelian randomization analysis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1281361

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2023.1281361

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Background</title><p>Patients with DN (diabetic nephropathy) show remarkable variations in their gut microbiota composition. However, to date, no study has shown whether a causal relationship exists between gut microbiota composition and DN.</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Methods</title><p>Here, we performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) investigation for identifying causal associations of gut microbiota with DN. Gut microbiota genetic data were gathered from the recent genome-wide association study pooled data of the MiBioGen consortium, which included 24 cohorts and 18,340 individuals.</p></sec><sec id="sec3"><title>Results</title><p>IVW(Inverse variance weighting) revealed that <italic>Verrucomicrobia</italic> [odds ratio (OR) = 1.390; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.10–1.75; <italic>p</italic> = 0.005], <italic>Peptostreptococcaceae</italic> (OR = 1.284; 95% CI = 1.03–1.59; <italic>p</italic> = 0.012), <italic>Verrucomicrobiaceae</italic> (OR = 1.390; 95% CI = 1.10–1.75; <italic>p</italic> = 0.005), <italic>Akkermansia</italic> (OR = 1.390; 95% CI = 1.10–1.75; p = 0.005), <italic>Butyricimonas</italic> (OR = 1.261; 95% CI = 1.02–1.55; <italic>p</italic> = 0.031), <italic>Catenibacterium</italic> (OR = 1.278; 95% CI = 1.02–1.59; <italic>p</italic> = 0.030).</p></sec><sec id="sec4"><title>Conclusion</title><p>Two-sample MR analysis identified 12 microbial taxa in gut microbiota (one of which is yet to be officially named) that showed significant causal associations with DN; 8 of these taxa significantly increased the risk of DN, while the remaining 4 taxa (including the one without an official name) reduced the risk of DN. The precise mechanisms influencing the interactions of gut microbiota with DN occurrence remain unclear; hence, additional investigations should be conducted to clarify these mechanisms.</p></sec>