Relationship between Gut Microbiota and Phosphorus Metabolism in Hemodialysis Patients: A Preliminary Exploration.

Yuan-yi Miao; Cong-min XU; Min Xia; Huai-qiu Zhu; Yu-qing Chen

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Relationship between Gut Microbiota and Phosphorus Metabolism in Hemodialysis Patients: A Preliminary Exploration.

Author: Yuan-Yi MIAO ¹ ; Cong-Min XU ² ; Min XIA ¹ ; Huai-Qiu ZHU ² ; Yu-Qing CHEN ¹
Author Information

1. Renal Division, Department of Medicine, Peking University First Hospital, Institute of Nephrology, Peking University, Key Laboratory of Renal Disease, Ministry of Health of China, Key Laboratory of Chronic Kidney Disease Prevention and Treatment, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100034, China.
2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, State Key Laboratory for Turbulence and Complex Systems, College of Engineering, and Centre for Quantitative Biology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Publication Type:Journal Article
Keywords: Gut Microbiota; Hemodialysis Patients; Lanthanum Carbonate; Phosphorus
MeSH: Child; Female; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; drug effects; physiology; Humans; Lanthanum; therapeutic use; Male; Middle Aged; Phosphorus; metabolism; Prospective Studies; Renal Dialysis; Risk Factors; Uremia; drug therapy; metabolism; microbiology
From: Chinese Medical Journal 2018;131(23):2792-2799
CountryChina
Language:English
Abstract: Background:Hyperphosphatemia is a risk factor associated with mortality in patients on maintenance hemodialysis. Gut absorption of phosphate is the major source. Recent studies indicated that the intestinal flora of uremic patients changed a lot compared with the healthy population, and phosphorus is an essential element of bacterial survival and reproduction. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of intestinal microbiota in phosphorus metabolism.
Methods:A prospective self-control study was performed from October 2015 to January 2016. Microbial DNA was isolated from the stools of 20 healthy controls and 21 maintenance hemodialysis patients. Fourteen out of the 21 patients were treated with lanthanum carbonate for 12 weeks. Thus, stools were also collected before and after the treatment. The bacterial composition was analyzed based on 16S ribosomal RNA pyrosequencing. Bioinformatics tools, including sequence alignment, abundance profiling, and taxonomic diversity, were used in microbiome data analyses. Correlations between genera and the serum phosphorus were detected with Pearson's correlation. For visualization of the internal interactions and further measurement of the microbial community, SparCC was used to calculate the Spearman correlation coefficient with the corresponding P value between each two genera.
Results:Thirteen genera closely correlated with serum phosphorus and the correlation coefficient was above 0.4 (P < 0.05). We also found that 58 bacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were significantly different and more decreased OTUs were identified and seven genera (P < 0.05) were obviously reduced after using the phosphate binder. Meanwhile, the microbial richness and diversity presented downward trend in hemodialysis patients compared with healthy controls and more downward trend after phosphorus reduction. The co-occurrence network of genera revealed that the network complexity of hemodialysis patients was significantly higher than that of controls, whereas treatment with lanthanum carbonate reduced the network complexity.
Conclusions:Gut flora related to phosphorus metabolism in hemodialysis patients, and improving intestinal microbiota may regulate the absorption of phosphate in the intestine. The use of phosphate binder lanthanum carbonate leads to a tendency of decreasing microbial diversity and lower network complexity.