Tkacheva Olga N, Klimenko Natalia S, Kashtanova Daria A, Tyakht Alexander V, Maytesyan Lilit V, Akopyan Anna A, Koshechkin Stanislav I, Strazhesko Irina D
The "Russian Clinical Research Center for Gerontology" of the Ministry of Healthcare of the Russian Federation, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, 16 1st Leonova Str., 129226 Moscow, Russia.
Atlas Biomed Group-Knomx LLC, Tintagel House, 92 Albert Embankment, Lambeth, London SE1 7TY, UK.
Microorganisms. 2023 Apr 15;11(4):1036. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms11041036.
The composition of the gut microbiome stores the imprints of prior infections and other impacts. COVID-19 can cause changes in inflammatory status that persist for a considerable time after infection ends. As the gut microbiome is closely associated with immunity and inflammation, the infection severity might be linked to its community structure dynamics. Using 16S rRNA sequencing of stool samples, we investigated the microbiome three months after the end of the disease/infection or SARS-CoV-2 contact in 178 post-COVID-19 patients and those who contacted SARS-CoV-2 but were not infected. The cohort included 3 groups: asymptomatic subjects ( 48), subjects who contacted COVID-19 patients with no further infection ( 46), and severe patients ( 86). Using a novel compositional statistical algorithm (nearest balance) and the concept of bacterial co-occurrence clusters (coops), we compared microbiome compositions between the groups as well as with multiple categories of clinical parameters including: immunity, cardiovascular parameters and markers of endothelial dysfunction, and blood metabolites. Although a number of clinical indicators varied drastically across the three groups, no differences in microbiome features were identified between them at this follow-up point. However, there were multiple associations between the microbiome features and clinical data. Among the immunity parameters, the relative lymphocyte number was linked to a balance including 14 genera. Cardiovascular parameters were associated with up to four bacterial cooperatives. Intercellular adhesion molecule 1 was linked to a balance including ten genera and one cooperative. Among the blood biochemistry parameters, calcium was the only parameter associated with the microbiome via a balance of 16 genera. Our results suggest comparable recovery of the gut community structure in the post-COVID-19 period, independently of severity or infection status. The multiple identified associations of clinical analysis data with the microbiome provide hypotheses about the participation of specific taxa in regulating immunity and homeostasis of cardiovascular and other body systems in health, as well as their disruption in SARS-CoV-2 infections and other diseases.
肠道微生物群的组成储存着既往感染及其他影响的印记。新冠病毒感染可导致炎症状态改变，且在感染结束后仍会持续相当长的时间。由于肠道微生物群与免疫和炎症密切相关，感染严重程度可能与其群落结构动态变化有关。我们采用粪便样本16S rRNA测序技术，对178例新冠康复患者及接触过新冠病毒但未感染的人群在疾病/感染结束或接触新冠病毒三个月后的微生物群进行了研究。该队列包括三组：无症状受试者（48例）、接触过新冠患者但未进一步感染的受试者（46例）以及重症患者（86例）。我们使用一种新的成分统计算法（最近平衡法）和细菌共现簇（coops）概念，比较了各组之间的微生物群组成以及与多种临床参数的关系，这些临床参数包括：免疫、心血管参数和内皮功能障碍标志物以及血液代谢物。尽管三组之间的多项临床指标差异显著，但在此次随访时未发现它们在微生物群特征上存在差异。然而，微生物群特征与临床数据之间存在多种关联。在免疫参数中，相对淋巴细胞数量与一个包含14个菌属的平衡状态相关。心血管参数与多达四个细菌协同组合相关。细胞间黏附分子1与一个包含10个菌属和一个协同组合的平衡状态相关。在血液生化参数中，钙是唯一通过16个菌属的平衡状态与微生物群相关的参数。我们的结果表明，在新冠康复期，肠道群落结构的恢复情况具有可比性，与严重程度或感染状态无关。临床分析数据与微生物群之间的多种已确定关联为特定分类群参与调节健康状态下心血管及其他身体系统的免疫和内环境稳态，以及它们在新冠病毒感染和其他疾病中的破坏作用提供了假设。
