Alterations in the gut microbiome and metabolism with coronary artery disease severity

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is associated with gut microbiota alterations in different populations. Gut microbe-derived metabolites have been proposed as markers of major adverse cardiac events. However, the relationship between the gut microbiome and the different stages of CAD pathophysiology remains to be established by a systematic study.

Based on multi-omic analyses (sequencing of the V3-V4 regions of the 16S rRNA gene and metabolomics) of 161 CAD patients and 40 healthy controls, we found that the composition of both the gut microbiota and metabolites changed significantly with CAD severity. We identified 29 metabolite modules that were separately classified as being positively or negatively correlated with CAD phenotypes, and the bacterial co-abundance group (CAG) with characteristic changes at different stages of CAD was represented by Roseburia, Klebsiella, Clostridium IV and Ruminococcaceae. The result revealed that certain bacteria might affect atherosclerosis by modulating the metabolic pathways of the host, such as taurine, sphingolipid and ceramide, and benzene metabolism. Moreover, a disease classifier based on differential levels of microbes and metabolites was constructed to discriminate cases from controls and was even able to distinguish stable coronary artery disease from acute coronary syndrome accurately.

Overall, the composition and functions of the gut microbial community differed from healthy controls to diverse coronary artery disease subtypes. Our study identified the relationships between the features of the gut microbiota and circulating metabolites, providing a new direction for future studies aiming to understand the host-gut microbiota interplay in atherosclerotic pathogenesis.