Medical Research Institute, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Department of Clinical Research Design and Evaluation, SAIHST, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Sci Rep. 2022 Mar 8;12(1):3732. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-07796-y.
The role of the gut microbiome in the development of renal stone diseases has not been well characterized. This study focused on the taxonomic and functional profiles of gut microbiomes according to the prevalence and incidence of nephrolithiasis. Stool samples from 915 Korean adults were collected at baseline. Participants were followed for a median of 4.0 years. We evaluated the biodiversity of the gut microbiota and taxonomic profiles associated with nephrolithiasis status, using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Nephrolithiasis status was categorized into three groups: control (no-stone at both baseline and follow-up visits), incidental nephrolithiasis, and prevalent nephrolithiasis. Compared to the control and incidental nephrolithiasis, the prevalent nephrolithiasis showed a reduced evenness in alpha diversity. Nephrolithiasis was associated with a reduced abundance of some key taxa involved in short-chain fatty acid production. Moreover, the abundance of Bifidobacterium, which possess oxalate-degrading ability, was higher in the control. Conversely, there was no significant difference in the bacterial composition between the incidental and prevalent nephrolithiasis. In our study with repeated nephrolithiasis measurements, prevalent renal stones were associated with an altered gut microbiota composition compared to the control. Besides the known oxalate degradation pathway, other functional pathways inferred in this study require further investigation.
肠道微生物组在肾结石疾病发展中的作用尚未得到充分描述。本研究根据肾结石的患病率和发病率，重点研究了肠道微生物组的分类和功能特征。在基线时收集了 915 名韩国成年人的粪便样本。参与者的中位随访时间为 4.0 年。我们使用 16S rRNA 基因测序评估了肠道微生物多样性和与肾结石状态相关的分类特征。肾结石状态分为三组：对照组（基线和随访时均无结石）、偶发性肾结石和现发性肾结石。与对照组和偶发性肾结石相比，现发性肾结石的 alpha 多样性均匀度降低。肾结石与一些参与短链脂肪酸产生的关键分类群的丰度降低有关。此外，具有草酸降解能力的双歧杆菌在对照组中的丰度较高。相反，偶发性和现发性肾结石之间的细菌组成没有显著差异。在我们这项具有重复肾结石测量的研究中，与对照组相比，现发性肾结石与肠道微生物群落组成的改变有关。除了已知的草酸降解途径外，本研究推断的其他功能途径还需要进一步研究。
