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Journal Article Epublish 17 citations

PubMed: 37375851 DOI: 10.3390/ph16060904

Metformin Therapy Changes Gut Microbiota Alpha-Diversity in COVID-19 Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: The Role of SARS-CoV-2 Variants and Antibiotic Treatment.

Pharmaceuticals (Basel) 16(6)

Authors: Pavlo Petakh, Iryna Kamyshna, Valentyn Oksenych, Denis Kainov, Aleksandr Kamyshnyi

Affiliations

  • Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Uzhhorod National University, 88000 Uzhhorod, Ukraine.
  • Department of Microbiology, Virology, and Immunology, I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, 46001 Ternopil, Ukraine.
  • Department of Medical Rehabilitation, I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, 46001 Ternopil, Ukraine.
  • Broegelmann Research Laboratory, Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, 5020 Bergen, Norway.
  • Department for Clinical and Molecular Medicine (IKOM), Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway.
  • Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, 50090 Tartu, Estonia.

Abstract

The gut microbiota play a crucial role in maintaining host health and have a significant impact on human health and disease. In this study, we investigated the alpha diversity of gut microbiota in COVID-19 patients and analyzed the impact of COVID-19 variants, antibiotic treatment, type 2 diabetes (T2D), and metformin therapy on gut microbiota composition and diversity. We used a culture-based method to analyze the gut microbiota and calculated alpha-diversity using the Shannon H' and Simpson 1/D indices. We collected clinical data, such as the length of hospital stay (LoS), C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio. We found that patients with T2D had significantly lower alpha-diversity than those without T2D. Antibiotic use was associated with a reduction in alpha-diversity, while metformin therapy was associated with an increase. We did not find significant differences in alpha-diversity between the Delta and Omicron groups. The length of hospital stay, CRP levels, and NLR showed weak to moderate correlations with alpha diversity. Our findings suggest that maintaining a diverse gut microbiota may benefit COVID-19 patients with T2D. Interventions to preserve or restore gut microbiota diversity, such as avoiding unnecessary antibiotic use, promoting metformin therapy, and incorporating probiotics, may improve patient outcomes.

MeSH

Microbiota, Therapeutics, C-Reactive Protein, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Sars Virus, Metformin, Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Covid-19, Sars-Cov-2

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