The Alteration in Composition and Function of Gut Microbiome in Patients with Type 2 DiabetesOriginal 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 compared gut microbiome composition and predicted function between 137 people with type 2 diabetes and 179 age and gender matched healthy controls in China.
How was it studied?
Venous blood was tested and stool samples underwent 16S rRNA sequencing for all 316 participants, then bacterial taxa and predicted metabolic pathways were compared between the diabetes and control groups.
What did they find?
Bacterial diversity was lower in the diabetes group. Bacteroidetes decreased at the phylum level while Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Verrucomicrobia increased. At the genus level, Bacteroides and Prevotella decreased most, while Escherichia-Shigella, Lachnospiraceae incertae sedis, Subdoligranulum, Enterococcus, and Klebsiella expanded. A 246-OTU model classified diabetes status with 92.25 percent training-set accuracy and 90.48 percent test-set accuracy. Predicted microbial function shifted toward environmental information processing and disease pathways, with less metabolism activity.
Why it matters
These compositional and functional shifts suggest the gut microbiome could serve as a diagnostic marker and treatment target in type 2 diabetes.