Alterations of the gut microbiota in type 2 diabetics with or without subclinical hypothyroidism

BACKGROUND: Diabetes and thyroid dysfunction are two closely related endocrine diseases. Increasing evidences show that gut microbiota plays an important role in both glucose metabolism and thyroid homeostasis. Meanwhile, copy number variation (CNV) of host salivary α-amylase gene (AMY1) has been shown to correlate with glucose homeostasis. Hence, we aim to characterize the gut microbiota and CNV of AMY1 in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients with or without subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH). METHODS: High-throughput sequencing was used to analyze the gut microbiota of euthyroid T2D patients, T2D patients with SCH and healthy controls. Highly sensitive droplet digital PCR was used to measure AMY1 CN. RESULTS: Our results revealed that T2D patients have lower gut microbial diversity, no matter with or without SCH. The characteristic taxa of T2D patients were Coriobacteriales, Coriobacteriaceae, Peptostreptococcaceae, Pseudomonadaceae, Collinsella, Pseudomonas and Romboutsia. Meanwhile, Escherichia/Shigella, Lactobacillus_Oris, Parabacteroides Distasonis_ATCC_8503, Acetanaerobacterium, Lactonifactor, uncultured bacterium of Acetanaerobacterium were enriched in T2D patients with SCH. Moreover, serum levels of free triiodothyronine (FT3) and free thyroxine (FT4) in T2D patients were both negatively correlated with richness of gut microbiota. A number of specific taxa were also associated with clinical parameters at the phylum and genus level. In contrast, no correlation was found between AMY1 CN and T2D or T2D_SCH. CONCLUSION: This study identified characteristic bacterial taxa in gut microbiota of T2D patients with or without SCH, as well as the taxa associated with clinical indices in T2D patients. These results might be exploited in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of endocrine disorders in the future.