Article Impact Level: HIGH Data Quality: STRONG Summary of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 21(8), 1102. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21081102 Dr. Ayushi Trivedi et al.
Points
- The study compares gut microbiomes between veterans with Gulf War Illness (GWI) and non-affected controls, highlighting a higher Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio in GWI patients.
- Veterans with GWI showed increased levels of bacterial genera like Blautia, Streptococcus, and Klebsiella while displaying decreased levels of Akkermansia and Bacteroides.
- Coprococcus and Eisenbergiella were identified as critical microbial predictors of GWI. A ROC analysis achieved an AUC of 74.8%, suggesting potential biomarkers for diagnosis.
- A strong correlation was found between higher self-reported fatigue scores and shifts in bacterial diversity, particularly involving Lachnospiraceae and Blautia.
- The findings suggest that targeting the gut microbiome could offer therapeutic strategies to alleviate GWI symptoms, providing a potential pathway for future treatment development.
Summary
The study investigates the gut microbiome differences between veterans suffering from Gulf War Illness (GWI) and non-affected controls, drawing on prior evidence linking microbiome dysbiosis to the symptoms of GWI, such as chronic fatigue, cognitive problems, pain, and gastrointestinal complaints. Significant variations in microbiome compositions were observed utilizing stool samples and Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI) data from 89 Gulf War veterans enrolled through the Boston Biorepository, Recruitment, and Integrative Network (BBRAIN). Specifically, veterans with GWI exhibited a higher Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio and notable changes in the abundance of several bacterial genera, including an increase in Blautia, Streptococcus, Klebsiella, and Clostridium, and a decrease in Akkermansia, Bacteroides thetaiotamicron, Bacteroides fragilis, and Lachnospiraceae.
Further analysis using the MaAsLin and Boruta algorithms highlighted Coprococcus and Eisenbergiella as significant microbial predictors of GWI, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 74.8% in receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. These bacterial strains could serve as biomarkers for diagnosing GWI. Additionally, higher self-reported MFI scores, indicating more significant fatigue, were strongly correlated with shifts in gut bacterial diversity, particularly with changes in the abundance of Lachnospiraceae and Blautia. This correlation underscores the potential link between microbiome composition and the severity of fatigue symptoms experienced by GWI sufferers.
The findings of this study underscore the potential of targeting the gut microbiome in developing therapeutic strategies for GWI. The distinct bacterial signatures associated with GWI suggest that microbiome modulation could offer a viable approach to mitigate some of the chronic symptoms of this condition, particularly for veterans who continue to experience these debilitating symptoms decades after their deployment.
Link to the article: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/8/1102
References Trivedi, A., Bose, D., Moffat, K., Pearson, E., Walsh, D., Cohen, D., Skupsky, J., Chao, L., Golier, J., Janulewicz, P., Sullivan, K., Krengel, M., Tuteja, A., Klimas, N., & Chatterjee, S. (2024). Gulf War Illness Is Associated with Host Gut Microbiome Dysbiosis and Is Linked to Altered Species Abundance in Veterans from the BBRAIN Cohort. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 21(8), 1102. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21081102
