Alterations of gut microbiota are associated with blood pressure: a cross-sectional clinical trial in Northwestern ChinaOriginal paper
Karen Pendergrass is a microbiome researcher specializing in microbiome-targeted interventions (MBTIs). She systematically analyzes scientific literature to identify microbial patterns, develop hypotheses, and validate interventions. As the founder of the Microbiome Signatures Database, she bridges microbiome research with clinical practice. In 2012, based on her own investigative research, she became the first documented case of FMT for Celiac Disease, four years before the first published case study.
Read MoreWhat was studied?
Researchers examined whether gut microbiota composition relates to blood pressure, and whether this relationship differs by sex, in adults from Northwestern China.
How was it studied?
The cross-sectional trial enrolled 87 hypertensive subjects and 45 controls in Xi'an. Fecal samples underwent 16S rRNA gene sequencing and metagenomic sequencing, with demographic and clinical data recorded for each participant.
What did they find?
Gut microbiota diversity was higher in females than males, with principal coordinate analysis showing clear separation between sexes. Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria were the four dominant phyla. LEfSe analysis found an unidentified Bacteria phylum enriched in hypertensive females, while Leuconostocaceae, Weissella and Weissella cibaria were enriched in female controls. Functional pathways including Cellular Processes, Human Diseases, Signal Transduction and Two-component System distinguished hypertensive females (ROC areas under the curve 0.77 to 0.81) and correlated positively with systolic blood pressure.
Why it matters
The findings support a role for gut microbiota dysbiosis in hypertension and suggest sex differences should be factored into future microbiome-blood pressure research.