AUTHOR=Song Ju Sun , Kim Joung Ouk Ryan , Yoon Sung Min , Kwon Min-Jung , Ki Chang-Seok 

TITLE=The association between gut microbiome and hypertension varies according to enterotypes: a Korean study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiomes

VOLUME=2

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiomes/articles/10.3389/frmbi.2023.1072059

DOI=10.3389/frmbi.2023.1072059

ISSN=2813-4338

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Several animal and clinical studies have reported that the state of the human gut microbiome is associated with hypertension. In this study, we investigated the association between the gut microbiome and hypertension in a Korean population from an enterotypic perspective.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>A total of 623 participants were enrolled from a healthcare center and classified into four enterotypes, <italic>Bacteroides</italic>1- (<italic>Bac</italic>1), <italic>Bacteroides</italic>2- (<italic>Bac</italic>2), <italic>Prevotella</italic>- (<italic>Pre</italic>), and <italic>Ruminococcus</italic> enterotype-like-composition (<italic>Rum</italic>).</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>When comparing the four enterotypes, clinical characteristics related to obesity, metabolic syndrome, and blood pressure were significantly associated with th e enterotypes, showing unfavorable associations with the <italic>Bac</italic>2 group and the opposite for the <italic>Rum</italic> group. Similarly, the prevalence of hypertension was highest in the <italic>Bac</italic>2 group and lowest in the <italic>Rum</italic> group. When analyzing the association between gut microbiota and blood pressure for each enterotype, gut microbial features of lower diversity, depletion of important short chain fatty acid-producing taxa, such as <italic>Faecalibacterium</italic>, <italic>Blautia</italic>, <italic>Anaerostipes</italic>, and enrichment of lipopolysaccharide -producing taxa, such as <italic>Megamonas</italic>, were found only in the dysbiotic <italic>Bac</italic>2 group. </p></sec><sec><title>Discussion</title><p>From an enterotype perspective, this study on a large Korean cohort shows that low-diversity <italic>Bacteroides</italic>2-enterotype-like composition is associated with hypertension, while the reverse is true for high-diversity <italic>Ruminococcus</italic>-enterotype-like composition and, to a limited degree, <italic>Bacteroides</italic>1-enterotype-like composition. In addition, we suggest that the effect of gut microbiota-mediated risk of hypertension could be modulated by altering the gut microbiome <italic>via</italic> diet. Dietary intervention trials promoting a balanced Korean diet instead of a more Western alternative may provide more definitive evidence for the involvement and role of the gut microbiome in relation to blood pressure.</p></sec>