Mineralocorticoid receptor deficiency in Treg cells ameliorates DSS-induced colitis in a gut microbiota-dependent manner.

Mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) is a classic nuclear receptor and an effective drug target in the cardiovascular system. The function of MR in immune cells such as macrophages and T cells has been increasingly appreciated. The aim of this study was to investigate the function of Treg MR in the process of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We treated Treg MR-deficient (MRflox/flox Foxp3YFP-Cre , KO) mice and control (Foxp3YFP-Cre , WT) mice with dextran sodium sulphate (DSS) to induce colitis and found that the severity of DSS-induced colitis was markedly alleviated in Treg MR-deficient mice, accompanied by reduced production of inflammatory cytokines, and relieved infiltration of monocytes, neutrophils and interferon γ+ T cells in colon lamina propria. Faecal microbiota of mice with colitis was analysed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and the composition of gut microbiota was vastly changed in Treg MR-deficient mice. Furthermore, depletion of gut microbiota by antibiotics abolished the protective effects of Treg MR deficiency and resulted in similar severity of DSS-induced colitis in WT and KO mice. Faecal microbiota transplantation from KO mice attenuated DSS-induced colitis characterized by alleviated inflammatory infiltration compared to that from WT mice. Hence, our study demonstrates that Treg MR deficiency protects against DSS-induced colitis by attenuation of colonic inflammatory infiltration. Gut microbiota is both sufficient and necessary for Treg MR deficiency to exert the beneficial effects.

Alterations of oral and gut viromes in hypertension and/or periodontitis.

The microbiota plays an important role in both hypertension (HTN) and periodontitis (PD), and PD exacerbates the development of HTN by oral and gut microbiota. Previous studies have focused on exploring the importance of the bacteriome in HTN and PD but overlooked the impact of the virome, which is also a member of the microbiota. We collected 180 samples of subgingival plaques, saliva, and feces from a cohort of healthy subjects (nHTNnPD), subjects with HTN (HTNnPD) or PD (PDnHTN), and subjects with both HTN and PD (HTNPD). We performed metagenomic sequencing to assess the roles of the oral and gut viromes in HTN and PD. The HTNnPD, PDnHTN, and HTNPD groups all showed significantly distinct beta diversity from the nHTNnPD group in saliva. We analyzed alterations in oral and gut viral composition in HTN and/or PD and identified significantly changed viruses in each group. Many viruses across three sites were significantly associated with blood pressure and other clinical parameters. Combined with these clinical associations, we found that Gillianvirus in subgingival plaques was negatively associated with HTN and that Torbevirus in saliva was positively associated with HTN. We found that Pepyhexavirus from subgingival plaques was indicated to be transferred to the gut. We finally evaluated viral-bacterial transkingdom interactions and found that viruses and bacteria may cooperate to affect HTN and PD. Correspondingly, HTN and PD may synergize to improve communications between viruses and bacteria.IMPORTANCEPeriodontitis (PD) and hypertension (HTN) are both highly prevalent worldwide and cause serious adverse outcomes. Increasing studies have shown that PD exacerbates HTN by oral and gut microbiota. Previous studies have focused on exploring the importance of the bacteriome in HTN and PD but overlooked the impact of the virome, even though viruses are common inhabitants in humans. Alterations in oral and gut viral diversity and composition contribute to diseases. The present study, for the first time, profiled the oral and gut viromes in HTN and/or PD. We identified key indicator viruses and their clinical implications in HTN and/or PD. We also investigated interactions between viruses and bacteria. This work improved the overall understanding of the viromes in HTN and PD, providing vital insights into the role of the virome in the development of HTN and PD.

Lysine acetyltransferase 6A maintains CD4+ T cell response via epigenetic reprogramming of glucose metabolism in autoimmunity.

Augmented CD4+ T cell response in autoimmunity is characterized by extensive metabolic reprogramming. However, the epigenetic molecule that drives the metabolic adaptation of CD4+ T cells remains largely unknown. Here, we show that lysine acetyltransferase 6A (KAT6A), an epigenetic modulator that is clinically associated with autoimmunity, orchestrates the metabolic reprogramming of glucose in CD4+ T cells. KAT6A is required for the proliferation and differentiation of proinflammatory CD4+ T cell subsets in vitro, and mice with KAT6A-deficient CD4+ T cells are less susceptible to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and colitis. Mechanistically, KAT6A orchestrates the abundance of histone acetylation at the chromatin where several glycolytic genes are located, thus affecting glucose metabolic reprogramming and subsequent CD4+ T cell responses. Treatment with KAT6A small-molecule inhibitors in mouse models shows high therapeutic value for targeting KAT6A in autoimmunity. Our study provides novel insights into the epigenetic programming of immunometabolism and suggests potential therapeutic targets for patients with autoimmunity.

Assessment of bidirectional relationships between circulating cytokines and periodontitis: Insights from a mendelian randomization analysis.

Background: The purpose of this Mendelian randomization (MR) study was to assess the causal relationship between circulating cytokines and periodontitis. Materials and methods: Based on the aggregated statistics of the largest publicly available genome-wide association study (GWAS), we applied a bidirectional two-sample MR. MR analyses were conducted using Inverse variance weighted (IVW), Robust Adjusted Profile Score (RAPS), Maximum likelihood (ML), Weighted median and MR-Egger, and results obtained from IVW served as the primary outcome. Cochran Q test was used to test the heterogeneity. MR-Egger intercept test and MR polymorphism residual and outlier test (MR-PRESSO) were used for polymorphism analysis. Leave-one-out sensitivity and funnel plots were used for sensitivity analysis. Results: The IVW method indicated that interleukin 9 (IL9) had a positive causal relationship with periodontitis [odds ratio (OR) = 1.199, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.049-1.372, p = 0.008], and interleukin 17 (IL17) had a negative causal relationship with periodontitis (OR = 0.847, 95% CI = 0.735-0.976, p = 0.022). In bidirectional MR, periodontitis was not causally related to any of the cytokines in our study. Conclusion: Our findings provided evidence in support of potential causal associations between circulating IL9/IL17 and periodontitis.

Maternal Thyroid Function and Birth Weight in Twins.

CONTEXT: Thyroid hormones are associated with birth weight in singleton pregnancy. Twin pregnancies need more thyroid hormones to maintain the normal growth and development of the fetuses compared with single pregnancy. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the association of thyroid hormones and birth weight in twins. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study in a Chinese population. Pregnant women who received regular antenatal health care and delivered live-born twins from 2014 to 2019 were included (n = 1626). Linear mixed model with restricted cubic splines and logistic regression models were used to estimate the association of thyroid hormones with birth weight and birth weight discordance in twins. RESULTS: We observed that both thyrotropin (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4) were not associated with birth weight in twins overall, while when stratifying on fetal sex or chorionicity, there were nonlinear association between FT4 levels and birth weight in boys (Pnonlinear < .001) and in dichorionic (DC) twins (Pnonlinear = 0.03). Women with levels of FT4 lower than the 10th percentile had a higher risk of birth weight discordance in their offspring than women with normal FT4 levels (range, 2.5 to 97.5 percentiles) (odds ratio = 1.58; 95% CI, 1.05-2.33). CONCLUSION: Our study suggests there was an association of FT4, but not TSH, with birth weight and birth weight discordance varied by sex and chorionicity. These findings could have implications for obstetricians to be aware of the importance of FT4 levels in preventing birth weight discordance in twin pregnancy.

Response of gut microbiota to serum metabolome changes in intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnant patients.

BACKGROUND: Intrahepatic cholestasis in pregnancy (ICP) is the most common liver disease during pregnancy, and its exact etiology and course of progression are still poorly understood. AIM: To investigate the link between the gut microbiota and serum metabolome in ICP patients. METHODS: In this study, a total of 30 patients were recruited, including 15 patients with ICP (disease group) and 15 healthy pregnant patients (healthy group). The serum nontarget metabolomes from both groups were determined. Amplification of the 16S rRNA V3-V4 region was performed using fecal samples from the disease and healthy groups. By comparing the differences in the microbiota and metabolite compositions between the two groups, the relationship between the gut microbiota and serum metabolites was also investigated. RESULTS: The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis results showed that the primary bile acid biosynthesis, bile secretion and taurine and hypotaurine metabolism pathways were enriched in the ICP patients compared with the healthy controls. In addition, some pathways related to protein metabolism were also enriched in the ICP patients. The principal coordination analysis results showed that there was a distinct difference in the gut microbiota composition (beta diversity) between the ICP patients and healthy controls. At the phylum level, we observed that the relative abundance of Firmicutes was higher in the healthy group, while Bacteroidetes were enriched in the disease group. At the genus level, most of the bacteria depleted in ICP are able to produce short-chain fatty acids (e.g., Faecalibacterium, Blautia and Eubacterium hallii), while the bacteria enriched in ICP are associated with bile acid metabolism (e.g., Parabacteroides and Bilophila). Our results also showed that specific genera were associated with the serum metabolome. CONCLUSION: Our study showed that the serum metabolome was altered in ICP patients compared to healthy controls, with significant differences in the bile, taurine and hypotaurine metabolite pathways. Alterations in the metabolization of these pathways may lead to disturbances in the gut microbiota, which may further affect the course of progression of ICP.

Prepregnancy Overweight and Obesity Are Associated with an Increased Risk of Preterm Birth in Chinese Women.

INTRODUCTION: The association between obesity before pregnancy and preterm birth varies with age and ethnicity. OBJECTIVE: To study the association between early body mass index (BMI) and risk of preterm birth in Chinese women. METHODS: This was a hospital-based retrospective cohort study including 36,596 Chinese women who gave birth to a live singleton infant from 2015 to 2018. Women were classified as underweight (BMI <18.5), normal weight (BMI 18.5 to <23), overweight (BMI 23 to <27.5), or obese (BMI ≥27.5) according to the most recent criteria for Asian women. Multivariate log-binomial regression models were used to estimate the relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for preterm birth among different groups. RESULTS: Compared to women with normal weight, women with overweight or obesity before pregnancy had an increased risk of preterm birth; the RRs and 95% CIs were 1.22 (95% CI: 1.08-1.37) and 1.30 (95% CI: 1.01-1.69), respectively. The greatest risk of extremely preterm birth was observed in obese women. The estimators were robust when considering the maternal age and rate of gestational weight gain (GWG) during pregnancy. CONCLUSIONS: Women with overweight and obesity had an increased risk of preterm birth regardless of GWG in early pregnancy. Our study suggests that it is beneficial to lose weight before conception for both overweight and obese women who plan to become pregnant.