Microbial and metabolomic profiles of type 1 diabetes with depression: A case–control study

Background

Depression is the most common psychological disorder in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D). However, the characteristics of microbiota and metabolites in these patients remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate microbial and metabolomic profiles and identify novel biomarkers for T1D with depression.

Methods

A case–control study was conducted in a total of 37 T1D patients with depression (TD+), 35 T1D patients without depression (TD−), and 29 healthy controls (HCs). 16S rRNA gene sequencing and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) metabolomics analysis were conducted to investigate the characteristics of microbiota and metabolites. The association between altered microbiota and metabolites was explored by Spearman's rank correlation and visualized by a heatmap. The microbial signatures to discriminate TD+ from TD− were identified by a random forest (RF) classifying model.

Results

In microbiota, 15 genera enriched in TD− and 2 genera enriched in TD+, and in metabolites, 14 differential metabolites (11 upregulated and 3 downregulated) in TD+ versus TD− were identified. Additionally, 5 genera (including Phascolarctobacterium, Butyricimonas, and Alistipes from altered microbiota) demonstrated good diagnostic power (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.73; 95% CI, 0.58–0.87). In the correlation analysis, Butyricimonas was negatively correlated with glutaric acid (r = −0.28, p = 0.015) and malondialdehyde (r = −0.30, p = 0.012). Both Phascolarctobacterium (r = 0.27, p = 0.022) and Alistipes (r = 0.31, p = 0.009) were positively correlated with allopregnanolone.

Conclusions

T1D patients with depression were characterized by unique profiles of gut microbiota and serum metabolites. Phascolarctobacterium, Butyricimonas, and Alistipes could predict the risk of T1D with depression. These findings provide further evidence that the microbiota–gut–brain axis is involved in T1D with depression.