Coronary artery disease is associated with an altered gut microbiome composition

PLoS One. 2020 Jan 29;15(1):e0227147. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227147. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Alteration of gut microbiome composition has been linked to cardiovascular diseases. To identify specific bacterial communities associated with coronary artery diseases (CAD), we conducted a case-control study with 53 advanced CAD patients and 53 age-, sex-, race-, and BMI-matched controls. V3-V5 regions of the 16S rDNA from the fecal gut material were analyzed to compare the gut microbiome composition between CAD patients and controls. The alpha diversity, including Chao-1, Shannon-index, and the number of observed taxonomy units were significantly decreased in CAD patients indicating, decreased richness and evenness of gut microbiome. Among 23 different abundant taxa at the genus level, 12 taxa belonged to Lachnospiraceae family, which are known to produce butyrate. Further, we identified five taxa which showed more than two log-fold changes with maximum proportion >0.002, including Ruminococcus gnavus, Lachnospiraceae anaerosporobacter, Lachnospiraceae NK4B4 group, Lachnospiraceae UCG-004, and Ruminococcus gauvreauii. After adjustment for coronary risk factors (diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia), decreased relative abundance of Lachnospiraceae NK4B4 group and Ruminococcus Gauvreauii and increased relative abundance of Ruminococcus gnavus were associated with the presence of advanced CAD. The observed differences in taxa between CAD patients and controls in this study may provide insight into the link between the gut microbiome and CAD.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Base Sequence
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Clostridiales / genetics
  • Coronary Artery Disease / microbiology*
  • Coronary Artery Disease / prevention & control
  • Feces / microbiology
  • Female
  • Gastrointestinal Microbiome / genetics*
  • Humans
  • Logistic Models
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / genetics
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA

Substances

  • RNA, Ribosomal, 16S

Supplementary concepts

  • Ruminococcus gnavus

Grants and funding

This study was sponsored by unrestricted grants from SonomaCeuticals, LLC, dba Whole-Vine Products (info@wholevine.com) and Mayo Clinic (https://www.mayoclinic.org) to AL. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, design to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.