New Human Gut Microbiome Atlas May Help Treat Conditions Like IBS and AMR
To better understand how gut microbes influence disease, researchers at King’s College London (KCL) have developed a new gut microbiome atlas in collaboration with MetaGenoPolis and the Science for Life Laboratory.
Published in Genomics ResearchThe Human Gut Microbiome Atlas, which identifies the gut bacteria of people with 23 different diseases across 19 countries, could lead to more effective treatments for conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBS).
The human gut microbiome provides a distinct profile of bacteria and other microorganisms that live in the intestine and help carry out vital bodily functions, including digestion.
However, data on the genetic makeup of individual gut bacteria is fragmented, preventing large-scale comparative studies from being carried out and preventing doctors from tailoring treatments to a patient’s specific microbiome.
After conducting a survey of genetic data from more than 6,000 human gut microbiome samples from North America, Europe, South Asia, and East Asia, the researchers used machine learning models to identify which gut bacteria appeared most frequently in healthy individuals and patients with specific diseases, and then tagged certain bacteria with specific functions.
Researchers believe the data could be useful in diagnosing and providing personalised treatment for diseases such as colon cancer and Crohn’s disease.
Dr Saeed Shoaie, senior lecturer in systems and synthetic biology at KCL, commented: “This (the Human Gut Microbiome Atlas) will enable medical professionals to more clearly identify and diagnose diseases and implement effective treatments targeting areas of the microbiome, such as dietary changes or microbiome transplants.”
The researchers hope to expand their work to create an oral and skin microbiome atlas to treat diseases such as eczema and psoriasis, as well as to track antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the gut, which is predicted to kill more than 10 million people a year by 2050.
In doing so, the team hopes to improve and evaluate the effectiveness of disease treatment efforts, identify which gut bacteria are becoming antibiotic resistant in people around the world, and combat AMR.
