Alterations of the Gut Microbiome and Metabolome in Patients With Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) has been reported to associate with gut microbiota alterations in murine models and thus “gut-retina-axis” proposed. However, the role of microbiome associated metabolism DR patients still need be elucidated. In this study, we collected fecal samples from 45 proliferative diabetic (PDR) 90 matched (1:2 according age, sex, duration diabetes) without (NDR) performed 16S rRNA gene sequencing untargeted metabolomics. We observed significantly lower bacterial diversity PDR group than that NDR group. Differential composition was also found, significant depletion 22 families (e.g., Coriobacteriaceae , Veillonellaceae Streptococcaceae ) enrichment two ( Burkholderiaceae Burkholderiales_unclassified as compared There were different metabolic features, which enriched pathways such arachidonic acid microbial metabolism, between groups. Among 36 coabundance metabolite clusters, 11 positively/negatively contributed using logistic regression analysis. Fifteen correlated clusters. Furthermore, a metabolite-based classifier constructed distinguish accurately. conclusion, is reduced altered specific microbe-metabolite interplay. Our findings help better understand disease pathogenesis provide novel diagnostic therapeutic targets for PDR.