From premature birth to prediabetes, bacteria could be the culprits

The Human Microbiome Project (HMP) began in 2008 with the goal of identifying the genome of all microorganisms present in the human body, ie its microbiome. The second phase, known as the Human Integrating Microbiome Project (iHMP), was launched in 2014 to clarify its role in the health of the population.

This week, magazines Nature and Nature Medicine Three studies have been published that badyze how the microbiome affects premature births, inflammatory bowel disease and prediabetes.

The first of these surveys, conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University (USA), reveals how the badl microbiome affects pregnancy. Specifically, the risk of premature birth, whose incidence exceeds 10% in the world.

According to the World Health Organization, 15 million babies are born too early each year, that is, before 37 weeks of gestation. In addition, premature birth is the leading cause of death among children under five.

The new article published in Nature Medicine Stresses the influence on 1,527 pregnant women alterations of the badl microbiome in the risk of prematurity. The work identifies a dozen taxa or bacterial groups that are overrepresented in women who gave birth prematurely. "Many have already been linked in other studies, while the majority are pioneers," said Gregory Buck, senior researcher at Sinc.

For example, the results showed that women who had given birth prematurely had Lactobacillus crispatus than those who have had a term pregnancy.

"While our results need to be replicated, these findings may lead to a screening test that badesses the risk of premature delivery in the early stages of pregnancy, when a clinical intervention is possible," said Jennifer. Mr. Fettweis, principal author. work.

"In the future, we could consider using the badl microbiome to identify pregnant women who might respond well to a particular intervention or supplement," Fettweis adds.

Microbiome and treatments

The second of the articles, published in Nature, investigates the interaction between host and microbial activity in prediabetes, a disease that can lead to type 2 diabetes, but is often not diagnosed.

Researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine (USA) badyzed 106 healthy, pre-diabetic individuals over a four-year period, examining molecular, genetic and microbial changes.

Experts have discovered patterns defining the early development of the disease, which in some cases would facilitate the early detection of type 2 diabetes, which in 2030 could reach 522 million people worldwide.

In the last of the works also published in Nature– The team led by Curtis Huttenhower, of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (USA), studied 132 healthy people with inflammatory bowel disease.

The results show alterations in the composition of the microbiome and variations in gene expression in affected individuals and could provide information on the onset and progression of the pathology.