Dysbiosis in the upper airway and gut, and altered urine metabolome in Malaysian diabetic patients
Gut dysbiosis and an increased risk of respiratory infection in type 2 diabetes have been well recognised. However, the relationship between the gut and respiratory pathobiont carriage rates in the type 2 diabetic Malaysian population is understudied. To address the knowledge gap, we profiled the gut and upper respiratory tract (URT) microbial composition, and the urine metabolome of 31 type 2 diabetic adults and 14 non-diabetic adults. We showed a higher prevalence of opportunistic URT pathogens in diabetes patients. A higher abundance of pro-inflammatory bacteria Escherichia coli was detected in the gut of the diabetic subjects. This coincided with the higher levels of sorbitol and taurine in the urine. The former is produced by aldose reductase, an enzyme strongly associated with airway inflammation, while the latter is a substrate for bacterial antioxidants (i.e. H2S). Despite a small sample size, our study revealed the potential relationship between the carriage rates of URT pathobionts with the gut microbial and urine metabolomic profiles of diabetes patients.
Authors
- David Cleary (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4533-0700)
- Cindy Shuan Ju Teh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9062-3839)
- Nur Alia Johari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4874-3164)
- Nor Farid Mohd Noor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6432-781X)
- Zanariah Hussein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0217-3282)
- Ivan Kok Seng Yap (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7523-5352)
- Stuart C. Clarke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7009-1548)
- Lokman Hakim Sulaiman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5840-8450)
- Chun Wie Chong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6881-8883)
- C. T. Ting
- Victor Lim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3051-4857)
- Zhi-Xian Kong
Institutions
- Monash University Malaysia (MY)
- University Malaya Medical Centre (MY)
- Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MY)
- University of Malaya (MY)
- Forest Department Sarawak (MY)
- NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre (GB)
- Institute for Medical Research (MY)
- Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam Malaysia (MY)
- University of Southampton (GB)
- Sultan Zainal Abidin University (MY)
- IMU University (MY)
- University of Birmingham (GB)
- Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (MY)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Endocrinology
- Published
- 2025-09-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1530/joe-25-0102
- Primary Topic
- Pediatric health and respiratory diseases
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00