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  • Review Article
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The potential of tailoring the gut microbiome to prevent and treat cardiometabolic disease

Nature Reviews Cardiology volume 20, pages 217–235 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Despite milestones in preventive measures and treatment, cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains associated with a high burden of morbidity and mortality. The protracted nature of the development and progression of CVD motivates the identification of early and complementary targets that might explain and alleviate any residual risk in treated patients. The gut microbiota has emerged as a sentinel between our inner milieu and outer environment and relays a modified risk associated with these factors to the host. Accordingly, numerous mechanistic studies in animal models support a causal role of the gut microbiome in CVD via specific microbial or shared microbiota–host metabolites and have identified converging mammalian targets for these signals. Similarly, large-scale cohort studies have repeatedly reported perturbations of the gut microbial community in CVD, supporting the translational potential of targeting this ecological niche, but the move from bench to bedside has not been smooth. In this Review, we provide an overview of the current evidence on the interconnectedness of the gut microbiome and CVD against the noisy backdrop of highly prevalent confounders in advanced CVD, such as increased metabolic burden and polypharmacy. We further aim to conceptualize the molecular mechanisms at the centre of these associations and identify actionable gut microbiome-based targets, while contextualizing the current knowledge within the clinical scenario and emphasizing the limitations of the field that need to be overcome.

Key points

  • The gut microbiome has been causally linked with cardiometabolic and cardiovascular disorders and is a potential complementary target to understand and reduce the residual risk of cardiovascular disease.

  • Cardiometabolic and cardiovascular disease progression is reflected in a reduction in gut microbiome diversity and butyrate producers, together with a reduction in pathogen exclusion and increased systemic inflammation.

  • Metabolites produced by gut microbiome metabolism or host–microbiome co-metabolism signal between the gut and peripheral organs to convey a modified exposure and disease risk, providing potential targets for individualized prevention and treatment.

  • A complex interaction exists between medication and the gut microbiome, whereby the microbiome influences drug bioavailability and treatment effects, and medication affects the microbial environment, composition and function, adding both complexity and opportunities for drug repurposing.

  • Next-generation, gut microbiome-based therapeutics require biotic and abiotic characteristics influencing grafting of probiotics, metabolic activity and microbial interactions with the resident bacteria to be addressed; emerging strategies should be paired with improved storage stability, improved viability and targeted delivery.

  • Increasing collaborative efforts to characterize the human gut microbiome diversity in depth are moving us towards the development of more precise and personalized approaches to circumvent disease.

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Fig. 1: ‘Devolution’ of the gut microbiome during the development and progression of cardiovascular disease.
Fig. 2: Intestinal metabolism and cardiometabolic and cardiovascular disease.
Fig. 3: Gut microbial metabolites contribute directly to vascular and cellular factors at all stages of atherosclerosis development.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank V. Tremaroli and K. Makki (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) for vibrant and rewarding scientific discussions. R.M.C.’s research work is supported by a Walter Benjamin Fellowship grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation). Work in F.B.’s laboratory is supported in part by Transatlantic Networks of Excellence Award from the Leducq Foundation (17CVD01), AFA insurances, Swedish Heart Lung Foundation (20180600), the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (2017.0026), and grants from the Swedish state under the agreement between the Swedish government and the county councils, the ALF-agreement (ALFGBG- 718101). F.B. is the Torsten Söderberg Professor in Medicine and Wallenberg Scholar.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Wallenberg Laboratory, Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Institute of Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Rima Mohsen Chakaroun, Lisa M. Olsson & Fredrik Bäckhed

  2. Medical Department III – Endocrinology, Nephrology, Rheumatology, University of Leipzig Medical Center, Leipzig, Germany

    Rima Mohsen Chakaroun

  3. Region Västra Götaland, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Department of Clinical Physiology, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Fredrik Bäckhed

  4. Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Fredrik Bäckhed

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  1. Rima Mohsen Chakaroun
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Contributions

R.M.C. researched data for the article, and all the authors contributed to discussion of its content. R.M.C. and F.B. wrote the manuscript, and all the authors reviewed and/or edited it before submission.

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Correspondence to Fredrik Bäckhed.

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Competing interests

F.B. is a shareholder in Implexion Pharma AB, is on the scientific advisory board of Bactolife A/S and receives research funds from BioGaia AB. The other authors declare no competing interests.

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Related links

Genomic Standards Consortium: https://www.gensc.org/

International Human Microbiome Standards: http://www.human-microbiome.org/index.php

NIH Human Microbiome Project: https://hmpdacc.org/

Glossary

Microbiota

The collection of all living microorganisms present in a specific ecosystem or environment.

Xenobiotics

Any chemical substances found in an organism that are not naturally produced or expected to be present in that organism.

Microbiome

The combination of the microbiota together with elements that are crucial to their function; this ‘theatre of activity’ includes the collective genomes of the microorganisms present.

Diversity

Some high-level measures, such as α-diversity and β-diversity, can be used to describe the microbiome; α-diversity estimates diversity within a single sample, whereas β-diversity describes the diversity (dissimilarity) of two or more communities (samples).

Richness

A measure of α-diversity that refers to the total number of features at a prespecified taxonomic level in a sample or community.

Opportunistic pathogens

Microorganisms that can colonize, but usually do not cause infections, in healthy hosts; under specific conditions, for example in immunocompromised hosts, these microorganisms can cause disease.

Pathobionts

Any potentially pathological organism which, under normal circumstances, lives as a non-harming symbiont; they opportunistically emerge as a result of perturbations in the healthy microbiome owing to complex interactions of genetic, exposomal, microbial and host factors that lead to their selection and expansion.

Probiotics

Live microorganisms selected to provide health benefits when consumed, generally by improving or restoring the gut microbiota.

Synbiotics

Mixtures of probiotics and prebiotics that beneficially affect the host by improving the survival and implantation of live microbial dietary supplements in the gastrointestinal tract.

Postbiotics

Soluble factors (metabolic products or byproducts) that are secreted by live bacteria or are released after bacterial lysis and that provide physiological benefits to the host.

Obligate anaerobes

Bacteria and Archaea that grow only in the absence of oxygen.

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Chakaroun, R.M., Olsson, L.M. & Bäckhed, F. The potential of tailoring the gut microbiome to prevent and treat cardiometabolic disease. Nat Rev Cardiol 20, 217–235 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-022-00771-0

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