Gut Microbiome Alterations in Pulmonary Hypertension in Highlanders and Lowlanders

Background Alterations in the gut microbiota have been observed in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH), though whether the roles of the gut microbiota in PH at different altitudes are the same is unknown. This study aims to evaluate the associations of the gut microbiome with PH in the highlanders and lowlanders.

Methods PH patients and controls were recruited from those who permanently live on the Tibetan plateau (highlanders) or the plains (lowlanders), and underwent transthoracic echocardiography close to their altitude of residence (at 5070 m for highlanders versus6 m for lowlanders). The gut microbiome was profiled using metagenomic shotgun sequencing.

Results In total, 13 PH patients (46% highlanders) and 88 controls (70% highlanders) were included. The overall microbial composition was different in PH patients compared to controls (p=0.003). Notably, among lowlanders, a composite microbial score of pro-atherosclerotic trimethylamine-producing species was increased in PH patients compared with that in controls (p=0.028), while among highlanders no such difference was observed (p=0.087). Another composite gut microbial score including eight species of Lactobacillus, which has shown beneficial effects on cardiovascular functions, was higher in highlanders than lowlanders (p<0.01). Furthermore, this score tended to be lower in PH patients than controls among highlanders (p=0.056) but not among lowlanders (p=0.840). In addition, the gut microbiome showed a good performance in distinguishing PH patients from controls in both lowlanders and highlanders.

Conclusions Our study reported differently altered gut microbiome profiles between highland and lowland PH patients, highlighting the distinct microbial mechanism in PH between highlanders and lowlanders.