The microbiome role in cardiovascular diseases: A systematic review

• Autor(a) principal: Sara Miguel Cardeal Dourado
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://hdl.handle.net/10216/150359
• topic: Ciências da saúde; Health sciences

Background: Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD) are a set of heterogeneous diseases affecting the heart and blood vessels whose underlying cause of the development is most often atherosclerosis. The basic mechanisms of atherosclerosis involve a complex interaction of vasculature, the immune system, and lipid metabolism. The gut microbiome plays a role in these mechanisms, with most of the contributions related to microbial metabolites. Therefore, it is crucial to clarify the link between the gut microbiome and cardiovascular diseases in humans to find new possible therapeutic pathways for the foreseeable future. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to systematize and evaluate the relationship between the gut microbiome and CVD, in human-based studies. Methods: The literary research was carried out at MEDLINE and Web of Science. Based on PRISMA Guidelines, were included human-based observational and experimental studies assessing gut microbiome and CVD, namely Atrial Fibrillation (AF), Heart Failure (HF) and stroke. Results: Overall, when compared with controls, higher TMAO levels were associated with CV diseases' patients. Relatively to the gut microbiota, the predominant phyla were Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria. In AF, patients' samples were enriched with the genera Bacteroides, Parabacteroides, Enterococcus, Dorea, Ruminococcus, and Streptococcus. In HF patients, there was an increase in the genera Streptococcus and Veillonella. Studies with stroke patients reported the family Enterobacteriaceae and its genus Enterobacter enrichment. Conclusions: Despite the lack of quantitative data regarding metabolites and microbiota, this study supports a relationship between the pathophysiology of CVD and the gut microbiome. However, this work also demonstrates that there is a vast set of very heterogeneous studies, without sample power, that affect the construction of a strong evidence between the gut microbiome and CVD.