Intestinal microbiota non-invasive indicators for diagnosing AMD clinically

The study researchers could be summarised as follows:

• The intestinal microbiota was altered in the AMD group.
• There were lower levels of Firmicutes and relatively higher levels of Proteobacteria and Bacteroidota in the AMD group than in the control group.
• AMD patient group had a higher proportion of Escherichia-Shigella and lower proportions of Blautia and Anaerostipes than the control group at the genus level.
• PICRUSt2 analysis revealed KOs and pathways associated with the altered intestinal microbiota. Between the two groups, Phenotypic prediction showed differences in the four phenotypes.
• The abundance of the top eight KOs in the AMD group was higher than in the control group.
• The KOs had involvement in lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis.

They said, “We found that AMD patients had a different composition of gut microbiota than healthy controls. Moreover, we performed functional predictions of intestinal microbiota in patients with AMD.”

Based on the study's findings, AMD patients had different gut microbiota than healthy controls. The pathophysiology of AMD was tied to changes in gut-related metabolic pathways.

The study limitations include single-centre research, a small sample size, and more data on bacterial metabolites needed to determine their potential underlying mechanisms.

Further reading:

Zhang Y, Wang T, Wan Z, Bai J, Xue Y, Dai R, Wang M, Peng Q. Alterations of the intestinal microbiota in age-related macular degeneration. Front Microbiol. 2023 Apr 5;14:1069325. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1069325.