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©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Correlation between gut microbiota and glucagon-like peptide-1 in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus
Yun-Yi Liang, Ling-Yu Liu, Yan Jia, Yi Li, Jie-Na Cai, Yi Shu, Jing-Yi Tan, Pei-Yi Chen, Hong-Wei Li, Hui-Hua Cai, Xiang-Sheng Cai
Yun-Yi Liang, Yan Jia, Yi Li, Yi Shu, Jing-Yi Tan, Pei-Yi Chen, Health Management Center, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Foshan 528000, Guangdong Province, China
Ling-Yu Liu, The First Affiliated Hospital, Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou 450000, Henan Province, China
Yi Li, Xiang-Sheng Cai, Shenzhen Hospital, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518001, Guangdong Province, China
Jie-Na Cai, Clinical Laboratory, Puning People’s Hospital, Puning 515300, Guangdong Province, China
Hong-Wei Li, Institute of Biotherapy, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China
Hui-Hua Cai, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Liang YY, Liu LY, and Jia Y designed the study, collected the samples, compiled the data, and drafted and critically revised the manuscript; Li Y, Cai JN, and Shu Y compiled the data and performed the statistical analysis and data interpretation; Tan JY collected the samples and compiled the data; Chen PY critically revised the manuscript; Cai HH and Cai XS designed this study, collected the samples, and drafted and critically revised the manuscript; all authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81701396; Foshan Science and Technology Planning Project, No.1920001001163; and Shenzhen Guangming District Soft Science Research Project, No. 2021R01002.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved and carried out in accordance with the guidelines of the Ethics Committee of Nanhai District People’s Hospital of Foshan.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that no competing interest exists.
Data sharing statement: Illumina sequencing reads were uploaded to the SRA under accession number PRJNA11381. The rest of the data that support the conclusions of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See:
https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Corresponding author: Xiang-Sheng Cai, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Shenzhen Hospital, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 4253 Songbai Road, Guangming District, Shenzhen 518001, Guangdong Province, China. xiangshengcai@yeah.net
Received: March 26, 2022
Peer-review started: March 26, 2022
First decision: June 11, 2022
Revised: June 25, 2022
Accepted: August 24, 2022
Article in press: August 24, 2022
Published online: October 15, 2022
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) places both the mother and offspring at high risk of complications. Increasing evidence suggests that the gut microbiota plays a role in the pathogenesis of GDM.
Research motivation
To confirm whether the gut microbiota is related to blood biochemical traits, particularly glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), in GDM patients.
Research objectives
To explore the correlation between the gut microbiota and blood biochemical traits.
Research methods
The V4 region of the 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) gene was sequenced based on the fecal samples of 35 pregnant women with GDM and was compared to that of 25 pregnant women with normal glucose tolerance (NGT).
Research results
The results showed that Ruminococcaceae_UCG-002, Ruminococcaceae_UCG-005, Clostridium_sen-su_stricto_1, and Streptococcus were more abundant in the NGT group than in the GDM group. Bacteroides and Lachnoclostridium were more abundant in the GDM group than in the NGT group. Spearman’s correlation analysis was performed to identify the relationships between bacterial genera and blood biochemical traits. Paraprevotella, Roseburia, Faecalibacterium, and Ruminococcaceae_UCG-002 were significantly negatively correlated with glucose. Ruminococcaceae_UCG-002 was significantly negatively correlated with HbA1c. Bacteroides was significantly positively correlated with glucose. Sutterella, Oscillibacter, and Bifidobacterium were significantly positively correlated with GLP-1. A random forest model showed that 20 specific genera plus glucose provided the best discriminatory power, as indicated by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (0.94).
Research conclusions
The results of this study reveal novel relationships between the gut microbiome, blood biochemical traits, particularly GLP-1, and GDM status.
Research perspectives
These findings suggest some genera are crucial for controlling blood glucose-related indices and may be beneficial for GDM treatment. Alteration in the microbial composition of the gut may potentially serve as a marker for identifying individuals at risk of GDM.
