The Cardiovascular system and the Microbiome
Summary:
The gut microbiome has been shown to play a major role in cardiovascular diseases such as stroke, atherosclerosis, heart failure, cholesterol, blood pressure, and more. FMTs (Fecal Microbiota Transplants) are being shown to be a likely treatment and prevention for cardiovascular disease.
General:
Reviews:
Review, 2020: The Role of the Gut Microbiota in Coronary Heart Disease https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11883-020-00892-2 "Gut microbiota are causally associated with coronary heart disease."
Review, 2018: Role of gut microbiota in chronic low‐grade inflammation as potential driver for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease: a systematic review of human studies https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12750
Review, 2018: Effects of products designed to modulate the gut microbiota on hyperlipidaemia https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-018-1821-z "Products designed to modulate the gut microbiota results in changes of the plasma lipid concentrations and these changes may protect against cardiovascular disease"
Multiple reviews connecting cardiovascular disease to the gut microbiome: https://archive.fo/DgTbu
Misc:
Gut intraepithelial T cells calibrate metabolism and accelerate cardiovascular disease (2019): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0849-9 "Integrin β7− mice that lack natural IELs are metabolically hyperactive and, when fed a high-fat and high-sugar diet, are resistant to obesity, hypercholesterolaemia, hypertension, diabetes and atherosclerosis"
A gut bacterium tackles atherosclerosis (Oct 2022) https://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-022-00648-z Gut Parabacteroides merdae protects against cardiovascular damage by enhancing branched-chain amino acid catabolism https://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-022-00649-y
Gut microbiota composition explains more variance in the host cardiometabolic risk than genetic ancestry (2018): https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/08/17/394726
Individual variations in cardiovascular-disease-related protein levels are driven by genetics and gut microbiome (2018): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-018-0224-7 "This study provides important evidence for a joint genetic and microbial effect in cardiovascular disease and provides directions for future applications in personalized medicine"
Microbial Transplantation With Human Gut Commensals Containing CutC Is Sufficient to Transmit Enhanced Platelet Reactivity and Thrombosis Potential (2018): https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.118.313142
Gut microbiome can influence common dietary compound (TMAO) linked to heart disease: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20160811/Gut-microbiome-can-influence-common-dietary-compound-linked-to-heart-disease.aspx | Targeting the gut microbiome to fight heart disease - Resveratrol reduces levels of TMAO and TMA: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-04/asfm-ttg033116.php
Tomorrow’s Heart Drugs Might Target Gut Microbes. Scientists can stop gut bacteria in mice from making a chemical that causes arterial disease (2015): https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/12/tomorrows-heart-drugs-might-target-gut-microbes/420900
Bacterial Fats, not Butter, May Be to Blame for Heart Disease (2017): https://archive.fo/uCR1A
Gut Microbiome Associates With Lifetime Cardiovascular Disease Risk Profile Among Bogalusa Heart Study Participants (2016): https://circres.ahajournals.org/content/119/8/956
Atherosclerosis:
Review, Nov 2024: Intestinal Insights: The Gut Microbiome's Role in Atherosclerotic Disease: A Narrative Review https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/12/11/2341
Review, Jan 2024: The Gut Microbiome Affects Atherosclerosis by Regulating Reverse Cholesterol Transport https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12265-024-10480-3
The gut microbiome in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (2017): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-00900-1
Commensal Microbe-specific Activation of B2 Cell Subsets Contributes to Atherosclerosis Development Independently of Lipid Metabolism: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352396416304911
An Interleukin-23-Interleukin-22 Axis Regulates Intestinal Microbial Homeostasis to Protect from Diet-Induced Atherosclerosis (2018): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2018.09.011
Bacterial butyrate prevents atherosclerosis by maintaining gut barrier function in mice. Interactions between Roseburia intestinalis and diet modulate atherogenesis in a murine model (Nov 2018) https://www.gutmicrobiotaforhealth.com/bacterial-butyrate-prevents-atherosclerosis-by-maintaining-gut-barrier-function-in-mice/
Blood pressure:
Review, 2024: Effects of fecal microbiota transfer on blood pressure in animal models: A systematic review and meta-analysis https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0300869 "transplantation of fecal bacteria from the hypertensive model can cause a significant increase in systolic pressure and diastolic pressure in animal models"
Review, 2017: "In this review, we compile the recent findings and hypotheses describing the interplay between the microbiome and blood pressure": https://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fped.2017.00138/full
Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Regulates Blood Pressure by Altering Gut Microbiota Composition and Intestinal Mucosal Barrier Function in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats (Aug 2024) https://forum.humanmicrobiome.info/threads/fecal-microbiota-transplantation-regulates-blood-pressure-by-altering.555/
Study demonstrates promise of engineering gut bacteria to treat hypertension (Oct 2023) https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-10-gut-bacteria-hypertension.html Genetically engineered Lactobacillus paracasei rescues colonic angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and attenuates hypertension in female Ace2 knock out rats.
Critical Role of the Interaction Gut Microbiota – Sympathetic Nervous System in the Regulation of Blood Pressure (Mar 2019): https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2019.00231/full
Bacteria Help Regulate Blood Pressure: Kidneys sniff out signals from gut bacteria for cues to moderate blood pressure after meals. https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-bacteria-help-regulate-blood-pressure-20171130/
Cholesterol:
Scientists link certain gut bacteria to lower heart disease risk (April 2024, n=1429) https://forum.humanmicrobiome.info/threads/scientists-link-certain-gut-bacteria-to-lower-heart-disease-risk-april.332/ Gut microbiome and metabolome profiling in Framingham heart study reveals cholesterol-metabolizing bacteria.
Cholesterol Metabolism by Uncultured Human Gut Bacteria Influences Host Cholesterol Level (Jun 2020, n=1299) https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-06/hu-mmm061720.php
The intestinal microbiota regulates host cholesterol homeostasis (Nov 2019) https://bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12915-019-0715-8 "FMT from humans harboring elevated plasma cholesterol levels to recipient mice induced a phenotype of high plasma cholesterol levels in association with a low hepatic cholesterol synthesis and high intestinal absorption pattern"
A link has been discovered between bacteria in the gut and body weight, triglyceride and good cholesterol levels. Researchers identified 34 specific digestive tract microorganism species that influence weight and lipid metabolism (2015, n=893) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150910164220.htm The Gut Microbiome Contributes to a Substantial Proportion of the Variation in Blood Lipids.
Heart failure:
Review, 2018: The gut microbiome and heart failure https://journals.lww.com/co-cardiology/Abstract/publishahead/The_gut_microbiome_and_heart_failure.99129.aspx "exact mechanisms of action remain unclear; investigating the gut microbiome as a potential strategy for clinical intervention is highly warranted"
Review, 2018: Dietary metabolism, the gut microbiome, and heart failure https://www.nature.com/articles/s41569-018-0108-7
Review, 2017: Targeting the Microbiome in Heart Failure: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11936-017-0528-4
Pathogenic Gut Flora Tied to Heart-Failure Severity (2016): https://www.heartfailure.onlinejacc.org/content/4/3/220 - https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/856123
Heart failure is associated with depletion of core intestinal microbiota (2017): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ehf2.12155/full
Metagenomic and metabolomic analyses unveil dysbiosis of gut microbiota in chronic heart failure patients (2018): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-18756-2
Heart failure: Destroying gut bacteria could improve outcomes. Gut microbiota depletion preserves heart function, suppresses cardiac fibrosis and hypertrophy in a non-ischemic heart failure mouse model (2018): https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321584.php - https://www.fasebj.org/doi/10.1096/fasebj.2018.32.1_supplement.287.3
Stroke and transient ischemic attack:
Review, 2022: The effect of fecal microbiota transplantation on stroke outcomes: A systematic review https://www.strokejournal.org/article/S1052-3057(22)00421-9/fulltext "manipulating gut microbiota via FMT can be a possible therapeutic approach for treatment of stroke and recovery of post-stroke complications"
Review, 2020: The Gut Ecosystem: A Critical Player in Stroke https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12017-020-08633-z
Review, 2016: The Gut Microbiome as Therapeutic Target in Central Nervous System Diseases: Implications for Stroke: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13311-016-0475-x - "Transplantation of balanced microbiota after cerebral ischemia improved stroke outcome"
Fecal microbiota transplantation alleviates neuronal Apoptosis, necroptosis and M1 polarization of microglia after ischemic stroke (2024, rats) https://forum.humanmicrobiome.info/threads/fecal-microbiota-transplantation-alleviates-neuronal-apoptosis-necropt.691/
Gut microbes impact stroke severity via the trimethylamine N-oxide pathway (Jun 2021, human-to-mouse FMT) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1931312821002304
Short-chain fatty acids improve post-stroke recovery via immunological mechanisms (Dec 2019, mice) https://www.jneurosci.org/content/early/2019/12/19/JNEUROSCI.1359-19.2019
Stroke Dysbiosis Index (SDI) in Gut Microbiome Are Associated With Brain Injury and Prognosis of Stroke (Apr 2019) https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2019.00397/full "We developed an index to measure gut microbiota dysbiosis in stroke patients; this index was causally related to outcome in a mouse model of stroke"
Commensal microbiota affects ischemic stroke outcome by regulating intestinal γδ T cells (2016): https://www.nature.com/articles/nm.4068 "antibiotic-induced alterations in the intestinal flora reduce ischemic brain injury in mice, an effect transmissible by fecal transplants"
Microbiota Dysbiosis Controls the Neuroinflammatory Response after Stroke (2016): https://www.jneurosci.org/content/36/28/7428.long
Gut Microbiota–Dependent Trimethylamine N-Oxide (TMAO) Predicts Risk of Cardiovascular Events in Patients With Stroke and Is Related to Proinflammatory Monocytes (2018): https://doi.org/10.1161/ATVBAHA.118.311023
Dysbiosis of Gut Microbiota With Reduced Trimethylamine‐N‐Oxide Level in Patients With Large‐Artery Atherosclerotic Stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack: https://jaha.ahajournals.org/content/4/11/e002699