The Link Between Gut Viruses and Cardiometabolic Disease 

21st February 2024 – By TwinsUK

A recent review published by researchers at TwinsUK sheds light on the potential role of viruses living in the gut, known as phages, in cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs).  

CMDs are a group of common and often preventable chronic diseases that affect the system of the heart and include type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.  They have been increasingly prevalent worldwide, with factors such as genetics, lifestyle, and diet contributing to their rise.  

More recently, the gut microbiome, a collection of microorganisms that exist in our large intestine, has also been implicated in CMDs. Interesting links have been found between bacteria and aspects of metabolic health, such as bodyweight, blood sugar and inflammation. However, the majority of existing research has focused on bacteria, overlooking other microorganisms such as phages. 

Phages are viruses that, instead of infecting human cells, infect bacteria cells, and in doing so play a crucial role in shaping bacterial communities within the gut, which in turn can affect human health. By infecting gut bacteria, phages can alter the abundance of bacteria, which may cause their levels to increase or decrease. Additionally, phages can change the way bacteria behave, for example by changing the metabolites that they release.    

Until now, studying the viruses in the gut has been challenging, which is one of the reasons why they have not been a focus of research. However, recent advancements are enabling researchers to investigate this potentially important but neglected aspect of gut health, with increasing interest being reflected in efforts such as the national Centre for Phage Research in Leicester, which aims to tackle a variety of global challenges through phages.  

Daniel Kirk, first author of the review, emphasises the importance of exploring the role of phages in CMDs: 

” As phages modulate gut bacteria communities, which in turn influence systemic health and susceptibility to cardiometabolic diseases, there is a need for a deeper understanding of how gut viruses contribute to cardiometabolic health.”   

To summarise what is currently known about phages in the gut microbiome in relation to CMDs, the authors searched for literature in this area. Across 15 studies, they found potential links between phages and obesity, type-2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome, amongst others. Their review highlights the potential involvement of phages in human health and provides information to inspire future research in the field, which is still at its inception and yet to be fully explored. 

The review also emphasises that harnessing the therapeutic potential of phages through phage therapy and faecal viral transplants could offer new avenues for treating CMDs. However, while the research is promising, more extensive studies and clinical trials are necessary to validate the efficacy of phage-based therapies in treating CMDs.

Lead author of the paper, Cristina Menni says:

“We highlight the broader implications of phage therapies beyond bacterial infections, extending to other diseases involving microbial imbalances in various organ systems.” 

What’s in a colon? New project ExHiBITT publishes first results

13th February 2020 – Paz Garcia

Even healthy people have abnormalities in their colon, according to the first results of new study ExHiBITT published today.

Researchers found that 28% of participants had polyps in the colon, which are small tumours on the surface of the colon lining that are typically detected in about a third of all colonoscopies. Researchers and doctors are interested in colonic polyps as in some cases they can lead to bowel cancer.

The colon is the last part of the digestive system and is a key location where microbes process any remaining solid waste before it is passed out as stool.

The aim of ExHiBITT – which stands for Exploring Host microBIome inTeractions in Twins – is to understand how our bodies interact with the billions of microbes in our colons.

The study was led by the Department of Twin Research in collaboration with researchers from Experimental Immunobiology from King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

What did they find?

Over 200 healthy identical twins from TwinsUK took part in the study. The participants completed health questionnaires and provided samples including saliva, blood, stool and four colon biopsies obtained through a colonoscopy.

The researchers found that 28% of participants had polyps in their colon and 26% had previously undiagnosed diverticulosis, which is where small pockets form in the colon wall. People who have diverticulosis often do not feel any symptoms and the condition does not lead to cancer.

Participants with higher age and weight for their height (BMI) had a greater number of polyps, and if one twin in a pair had polyps, the chance of the other twin having polyps was 42%.

What’s next?

The team are now planning to study in closer detail the microbes identified in the samples to understand how it may influence our health. This includes analysing each participant’s metabolism and that of their microbes, as well as sequencing the microbes’ DNA. The researchers will use this information to create a rich database that will be available for other researchers to use, so that more health research can take place using the data generated by ExHiBITT.

Lead researcher Dr Marina Mora-Ortiz said:

“These findings are just the beginning and we’re now getting started on the next stage of analysing the collected samples. We’d like to say a huge thank you to our twins for taking part in this study, especially considering it involved a colonoscopy! We are always humbled by the contribution our selfless volunteers are willing to make to support medical research.”

Introducting ExHiBITT – Exploring Host microBIome inTeractions in Twins -, a colon multiomic cohort study (2020) Mora-Ortiz et al., Wellcome Open Research.

Gut bacteria need each other – and that affects our metabolism

3rd October 2019 – by Paz Garcia

Pile of lego bricks
Gut bacteria work together like Lego

Teamwork is key for the trillions of bacteria that live in our gut and this has a big impact on our metabolism, according to new research led by King’s College London, published today in Nature Communications.

The human gut is home to bacteria that help us digest our food, produce vitamins and perform many other tasks that influence our health.

Gut bacteria work together in groups to carry out different functions. The researchers, led by the Department of Twin Research & Genetic Epidemiology, found that this teamwork is much more important and more closely linked with our metabolism than individual species of bacteria.

The researchers studied the gut bacteria, blood and stool of over a thousand twins who take part in TwinsUK. This allowed the team to run the first large study on the link between gut bacterial species, their functions and the metabolism in the gut and blood of the participants.

The team found that while unrelated people share only 43% of gut bacteria species, they still share 82% of functions carried out by groups of gut bacteria. This is because different bacterial species can contribute to the same function and so different groups can work together to can carry out similar activities.

This research therefore suggests that health treatments designed to target gut bacteria – and our metabolism – should focus on groups of gut bacteria that carry out a particular function, rather than individual bacterial species.

Senior author Dr Mario Falchi explained:

“We can think of our gut bacteria like Lego bricks – the colour of the bricks doesn’t matter as much compared with how they fit together to make something. With gut bacteria, the individual species don’t matter as much as the group working together to carry out a function.”

“This is the first large study to explore the metabolic potential of the entire gut bacteria ecosystem. Our findings underline the importance of studying groups of bacteria and their functions overall, rather than focusing on specific species. These results add to the growing body of evidence that gut bacteria are intrinsically linked with human health.”

*

Visconti A, Le Roy CI, Rosa F, Rossi N, Martin TC, Mohney RP, Li W, de Rinaldis E, Bell JT, Venter JC, Nelson KE, Spector TD and Falchi M. Interplay between the human gut microbiome and host metabolism. Nature Communications (2019).

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