European journal of clinical investigation
-
Eur. J. Clin. Invest. · Dec 2023
Observational StudyPhenylacetylglutamine and trimethylamine N-oxide: Two uremic players, different actions.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients exhibit a heightened cardiovascular (CV) risk which may be partially explained by increased medial vascular calcification. Although gut-derived uremic toxin trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is associated with calcium-phosphate deposition, studies investigating phenylacetylglutamine's (PAG) pro-calcifying potential are missing. ⋯ In conclusion, our translational data confirm TMAO's pro-calcifying effects, but both toxins induced free radical production detrimental to vascular maintenance. Our findings suggest these gut-derived uremic toxins have different actions on the vessel wall and therapeutically targeting TMAO may help reduce CV-related mortality in CKD.
-
Eur. J. Clin. Invest. · Dec 2023
Washed microbiota transplantation improves haemoglobin levels in anaemia of chronic disease.
Anaemia of chronic disease (ACD) is the second most common type of anaemia and lacks an effective treatment. Patients with anaemia are reported to have altered gut microbial profiles, which may affect erythropoiesis. Here, we investigated the gut microbial features of patients with ACD and determined whether regulating gut microbiota using washed microbiota transplantation (WMT) was effective in treating ACD. ⋯ Patients with ACD exhibited differences in gut microbial composition and function relative to healthy controls. WMT is an effective treatment for ACD that reshapes gut microbial composition, restores butyrate-producing bacteria and regulates the functions of gut microbiota.
-
Eur. J. Clin. Invest. · Dec 2023
Association between the use of lipid-lowering drugs and the risk of inflammatory bowel disease.
Observational studies have suggested an association between lipid-lowering drugs and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) risk. This study aimed to assess the causal influence of lipid-lowering agents on IBD risk using Mendelian randomization analysis. ⋯ Inhibition of the lipid-lowering drug-target NPC1L1 leads to an increased IBD risk, mainly in the UC population.
-
Eur. J. Clin. Invest. · Dec 2023
Genetic risk score of cerebral infarction in atrial fibrillation genome-wide association study.
Stroke is a leading cause of death and the primary cause of adult-acquired disability. Patients with cardiogenic embolic stroke also have higher mortality and recurrence rates than patients with other stroke subtypes. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a major risk factor for cerebral infarction (CI). The large-scale study identified 32 loci in the MEGASTROKE study. However, few studies have attempted to identify novel stroke risk variants in patients with a history of AF. Our overall aim was to identify novel CI risk variants in AF cases and explore whether their associations with the CI risk were affected by the CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores. ⋯ We identified eight genetic variants that were potentially associated with the risk of CI of AF cases and the significant GRS, whose associations were independent of the CHADS2 or CHA2DS2-VASc score.