Summary
- A study showed that patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and T2DM with diabetic foot (T2DM-DF) showed significant differences in selected clinical laboratory parameters.
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There was a significant decrease in gut fungal diversity and richness among T2DMs individuals as compared to healthy controls, while an even more pronounced decrease seen in the case of. T2DM-DF
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Differences in gut fungal composition between T2DM and T2DM-DF was noted, indicating potential representative biomarkers for each condition.
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Functional analysis of gut fungi showed different activities of enzymes in T2DM and T2DM-DF, which indicating that the metabolic functions might be changed in these populations.
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Fungal species have been highly linked to obesity, liver function and blood parameters inferring they could be important for the development of T2DM as well as T2DM-DF.
Diabetes is amongst the most common health ailments covering large masses of people all around the world. A new study looked at the relationship of type 2 diabetes with gut fungi. Analysis of clinical laboratory parameters and gut fungal diversity between the groups was undertaken in this study.
Results showed that patients with T2DM had higher body mass indexes (BMIs) than those without the disease. Conversely, the subjects with Type 2 diabetes with diabetic foot (T2DM-DF) revealed no significant difference in BMI when compared to control but were lower than those with T2DM. The cause of this difference between the 2 groups in terms of BMI was not clear but could be related to various factors including glucose with metabolic disorders, insulin resistance on other hand problematic dietary control or prolonged diabetes-induced drug side effects.
T2DM-DF was different from T2DM in terms of distinct clinical laboratory parameters, most of which conformed to the diagnosis criteria for DF. The serum levels of a liver enzyme (AST) and and a kidny parameter (BUN ) were higher in the T2DM-DF patients, reflecting liver dysfunction and kidney damage that may occur.
The researchers also went one step further and examined the diversity and richness of gut fungal communities across all three groups. The diversity of fungi was lower in T2DM and T2DM-DF compared with that in healthy controls. The compositions of gut fungal communities were also significantly different between the groups and displayed more significant difference in case of T2DM-DF than other groups.
The researchers were able to establish certain enzymes correlated with fungal communities by examining functional potentials of fungi in T2DM, and T2DM-DF. Enzymatic activities were differentially expressed between groups, with very few changes in T2DM.
More importantly, the study discovered signature fungal species that can be used as biomarkers to discriminate these groups. Signature fungi were identified that are related to obesity indexes, liver function and blood parameters. There were significant associations between some fungal species and clinical indicators of health status, which suggests that they may be involved in the pathobiology underpinning either T2DM or T2DM-DF.
In summary, the study has uncovered a complex interplay between the gut fungal communities and metabolic disorders like T2DM as well as T2DM-DF. This work suggests that changes in the gut of fungi can be a powerful factor to bring about these diseases. This may enable the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in diabetes as well as its complications.
Diabetes & Endocrinology, Dermatology, Gastroenterology