Health Management Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
Department of Thyroidology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2021 Mar 12;11:643968. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2021.643968. eCollection 2021.
Thyroid nodules are found in nearly half of the adult population. Accumulating evidence suggests that the gut microbiota plays an important role in thyroid metabolism, yet the association between gut microbiota capacity, thyroid nodules, and thyroid function has not been studied comprehensively. We performed a gut microbiome genome-wide association study in 196 patients with thyroid nodules and 283 controls by using whole-genome shotgun sequencing. We found that participants with high-grade thyroid nodules have decreased number of gut microbial species and gene families compared with those with lower grade nodules and controls. There are also significant alterations in the overall microbial composition in participants with high-grade thyroid nodules. The gut microbiome in participants with high-grade thyroid nodules is characterized by greater amino acid degradation and lower butyrate production. The relative abundances of multiple butyrate producing microbes are reduced in patients with high-grade thyroid nodules and the relative abundances of L-histidine metabolism pathways are associated with thyrotropin-releasing hormone. Our study describes the gut microbiome characteristics in thyroid nodules and a gut-thyroid link and highlight specific gut microbiota as a potential therapeutic target to regulate thyroid metabolism.
甲状腺结节在近一半的成年人群中被发现。越来越多的证据表明，肠道微生物群在甲状腺代谢中发挥着重要作用，但肠道微生物群能力、甲状腺结节和甲状腺功能之间的关联尚未被全面研究。我们通过全基因组鸟枪法测序，对 196 名甲状腺结节患者和 283 名对照者进行了肠道微生物组全基因组关联研究。我们发现，与低级别结节和对照组相比，高级别甲状腺结节患者的肠道微生物种类和基因家族数量减少。高级别甲状腺结节患者的整体微生物组成也存在显著改变。高级别甲状腺结节患者的肠道微生物组以更高的氨基酸降解和更低的丁酸生成为特征。高级别甲状腺结节患者中多种产生丁酸的微生物的相对丰度降低，而 L-组氨酸代谢途径的相对丰度与促甲状腺激素释放激素有关。我们的研究描述了甲状腺结节中的肠道微生物组特征和肠道-甲状腺联系，并强调了特定的肠道微生物群可能是调节甲状腺代谢的潜在治疗靶点。
