Alterations in the gut microbiota with the accumulation of cardiovascular disease risk factors among Chinese children

Abstract Purpose: The evidence on the effect of gut microbiota on the accumulation of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) risk factors among children is scarce. We aimed to examine the alterations of gut microbiota with different numbers of CVD risk factors among children. Methods: Data were from the baseline study of the Huantai Childhood Cardiovascular Health Cohort Study in Zibo, China. We compared the differences in gut microbiota based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing among 72 children with different numbers of CVD risk factors matched by age and sex (i.e., none, one, two-or-more, 24 children for each group). Results: The community richness and diversity of gut microbiota decreased with an increased number of CVD risk factors in children (P for trend<0.05). The β-diversity analyses indicated a significant separation in the community composition among the three groups. Among genera with relative abundance greater than 0.01%, the relative abundance of Lachnoclostridium (PFDR=0.009) increased in the CVD risk groups, whereas Alistipes (PFDR<0.001) and Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group (PFDR=0.043) decreased in the CVD risk groups compared to the non-risk group. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses showed that genus Christensenellaceae_R-7_group performed a high ability in identifying one and two-or-more risk from non-risk (area under the ROC curve [AUC]: 0.84-0.92), and genera Family_XIII_AD3011_group (AUC: 0.73-0.91) and Lachnoclostridium (AUC:0.77-0.80) performed moderate abilities in identifying none, one, and two-or-more CVD risk factors in children. The disorders of gut microbiota participating in the D-Glutamine and D-glutamate metabolism and cysteine and methionine metabolism pathways might lead to the accumulation of CVD risk factors in children. Conclusions: Dysbiosis of gut microbiota particularly for genera Christensenellaceae_R-7_group, Family_XIII_AD3011_group, and Lachnoclostridium may contribute to the early detection and the accumulation of CVD risk factors in childhood.