RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Gut Microbiome Alterations in Pulmonary Hypertension in Highlanders and Lowlanders
JF ERJ Open Research
JO erjor
FD European Respiratory Society
SP 00617-2022
DO 10.1183/23120541.00617-2022
A1 Wenxue Dong
A1 Lifeng Ma
A1 Qiumin Huang
A1 Xu Yang
A1 Zhendong Mei
A1 Mengmeng Kong
A1 Zhonghan Sun
A1 Zhiying Zhang
A1 Jing Li
A1 Jiaojiao Zou
A1 Dandan Chen
A1 Yuxiang Dai
A1 Daxin Zhou
A1 Yan Zheng
A1 Longli Kang
YR 2023
UL http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/early/2023/02/16/23120541.00617-2022.abstract
AB 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.FootnotesThis manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the ERJ Open Research. It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJOR online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.Conflict of interest: None.