海湾战争疾病(GWI)是一种以慢性疲劳为特征的衰弱状况,认知问题,疼痛,以及被部署到1990-1991海湾战争中的退伍军人的胃肠道(GI)投诉。疲劳,GI投诉,和其他慢性症状继续持续超过30年后部署。已经确定了持续性疾病的几种潜在机制,我们先前的初步研究将肠道微生物组改变与该疾病联系起来。这项研究进一步验证并建立在我们先前对GWI退伍军人的宿主肠道微生物群菌群失调的初步发现的基础上。使用来自波士顿生物储存库的89GW退伍军人参与者(63例GWI病例和26例对照)的粪便样本和多维疲劳清单(MFI)数据,招募,和海湾战争疾病的综合网络(BBRAIN),我们发现,GWI退伍军人的宿主肠道细菌特征显示,Bray-Curtisβ多样性与对照退伍军人显著不同.具体来说,较高的Firmicutes与拟杆菌的比率,阿克曼西亚减少。,拟杆菌纤维,脆弱拟杆菌,和落叶松科属,并增加了落叶松,链球菌,克雷伯菌属,和梭菌属,与肠道相关的,免疫,和大脑健康,已显示。Further,使用MaAsLin和Boruta算法,球菌和艾森伯氏菌被确定为GWI的重要预测因子,曲线下面积ROC预测值为74.8%。GWI退伍军人的自我报告的MFI得分较高也与肠道细菌多样性和Lachnospirosaceae和Blautia的物种丰度的改变显着相关。这些结果表明,GWI退伍军人的潜在治疗目标是针对肠道微生物组和疾病的特定症状。
Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a debilitating condition marked by chronic fatigue, cognitive problems, pain, and gastrointestinal (GI) complaints in veterans who were deployed to the 1990-1991 Gulf War. Fatigue, GI complaints, and other chronic symptoms continue to persist more than 30 years post-deployment. Several potential mechanisms for the persistent illness have been identified and our prior pilot study linked an altered gut microbiome with the disorder. This study further validates and builds on our prior preliminary findings of host gut microbiome dysbiosis in veterans with GWI. Using stool samples and Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI) data from 89 GW veteran participants (63 GWI cases and 26 controls) from the Boston biorepository, recruitment, and integrative network (BBRAIN) for Gulf War Illness, we found that the host gut bacterial signature of veterans with GWI showed significantly different Bray-Curtis beta diversity than control veterans. Specifically, a higher Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio, decrease in Akkermansia sp., Bacteroides thetaiotamicron, Bacteroides fragilis, and Lachnospiraceae genera and increase in Blautia, Streptococcus, Klebsiella, and Clostridium genera, that are associated with gut, immune, and brain health, were shown. Further, using MaAsLin and Boruta algorithms, Coprococcus and Eisenbergiella were identified as important predictors of GWI with an area under the curve ROC predictive value of 74.8%. Higher self-reported MFI scores in veterans with GWI were also significantly associated with an altered gut bacterial diversity and species abundance of Lachnospiraceae and Blautia. These results suggest potential therapeutic targets for veterans with GWI that target the gut microbiome and specific symptoms of the illness.