Prandovszky Emese, Liu Hua, Severance Emily G, Splan Victor W, Dickerson Faith B, Yolken Robert H
Division of Stanley Developmental Neurovirology, Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Department of Psychology, Sheppard Pratt Health System, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Brain Behav Immun Health. 2025 Aug 5;48:101081. doi: 10.1016/j.bbih.2025.101081. eCollection 2025 Oct.
This study investigates the role of the gut microbiome in suicidal behavior among individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD). Fecal samples from 50 hospitalized patients with MDD, including 35 with recent suicide attempts (60 % female) and 15 without a history of suicide (73 % female), were analyzed using 16S rRNA and shotgun sequencing to assess microbiome diversity and metabolic potential. Results revealed that suicide attempters exhibited significantly greater microbial richness and distinct beta-diversity patterns. Notably, they had higher levels of and lower levels of . Additionally, 25 metabolic pathways differed between groups, with several linked to energy metabolism and amino acid processing-processes previously associated with MDD and suicidal behavior. These findings suggest that microbiome composition may influence suicide risk through gut-brain axis-mediated pathways, although due to the exploratory nature of this study further investigation is needed to validate our findings. Given the microbiome's modifiability, future research should explore microbial-targeted interventions as a potential strategy for suicide prevention in individuals with MDD.
本研究调查了肠道微生物群在重度抑郁症（MDD）患者自杀行为中的作用。对50名住院的MDD患者的粪便样本进行了分析，其中包括35名近期有自杀未遂史的患者（60%为女性）和15名无自杀史的患者（73%为女性），使用16S rRNA和鸟枪法测序来评估微生物群的多样性和代谢潜力。结果显示，自杀未遂者表现出显著更高的微生物丰富度和独特的β-多样性模式。值得注意的是，他们的[具体物质1]水平较高，而[具体物质2]水平较低。此外，两组之间有25条代谢途径存在差异，其中几条与能量代谢和氨基酸加工有关，这些过程之前与MDD和自杀行为相关。这些发现表明，微生物群组成可能通过肠-脑轴介导的途径影响自杀风险，尽管由于本研究的探索性质，需要进一步调查来验证我们的发现。鉴于微生物群的可调节性，未来的研究应探索以微生物为靶点的干预措施，作为预防MDD患者自杀的潜在策略。
