Gut microbiota composition and type 2 diabetes: Are these subjects linked Together?

Evidence suggests that changes in the composition of gut microbiota may be linked to metabolic disorders including type 2 diabetes (T2D). The present study aims to evaluate the compositional changes of the intestinal microbiota in patients with T2D as compared to healthy individuals.

In this case-control study, there were 18 T2D patients and 18 healthy individuals who served as controls. To profile the gut microbiota in both groups, bacterial DNA was extracted from fecal samples and analyzed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).

The study discovered that diabetics had significantly greater frequencies of the genus Bacteroides and the phylum Bacteroidetes than did controls (P = 0.03 and P < 0.001, respectively). Conversely, the Actinobacteria and Firmicutes phyla were significantly more abundant in the controls (P=0.01 for both). No significant differences were observed in the fecal populations of the genus Enterococcus, Clostridium clusters IV and XIVa, phylum Proteobacteria, and all bacteria between the studied groups (P=0.88, P=0.56, P=0.8, P=0.99, and P=0.7, respectively).

Our findings confirm that T2D may be associated with the gut microbiota fluctuations. These findings may be valuable for developing strategies to control or treatment T2D by restoring the intestinal microbiota through the strategic administration of specific probiotics/prebiotics and lifestyle and dietary modifications.