Limited effects of long-term daily cranberry consumption on the gut microbiome in a placebo-controlled study of women with recurrent urinary tract infections

BMC Microbiology

Scott J. Hultgren¹  Karen W. Dodson¹  Henry L. Schreiber²  Ashlee M. Earl³  Abigail L. Manson³  Sinéad B. Chapman³  Bruce J. Walker³  Christopher A. Desjardins³  Wen-Chi Chou³  Timothy J. Straub⁴  Christina Khoo⁵  Kerrie L. Kaspar⁵  Meredith A. J. Hullar⁶  Orsalem J. Kahsai⁶  Elizabeth Traylor⁶ 

[1] Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA;Center for Women’s Infectious Disease Research, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA;Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA;Center for Women’s Infectious Disease Research, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA;Division of Biology & Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA;Infectious Disease & Microbiome Program, Broad Institute, 415 Main Street, 02142, Cambridge, MA, USA;Infectious Disease & Microbiome Program, Broad Institute, 415 Main Street, 02142, Cambridge, MA, USA;Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA;Ocean Spray Cranberries, Lakeville-Middleboro, MA, USA;Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA;

关键词: Urinary tract infection (UTI);    Microbiome;    Metagenome;    Flavonifractor;    Cranberry;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12866-021-02106-4

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundUrinary tract infections (UTIs) affect 15 million women each year in the United States, with > 20% experiencing frequent recurrent UTIs. A recent placebo-controlled clinical trial found a 39% reduction in UTI symptoms among recurrent UTI sufferers who consumed a daily cranberry beverage for 24 weeks. Using metagenomic sequencing of stool from a subset of these trial participants, we assessed the impact of cranberry consumption on the gut microbiota, a reservoir for UTI-causing pathogens such as Escherichia coli, which causes > 80% of UTIs.ResultsThe overall taxonomic composition, community diversity, carriage of functional pathways and gene families, and relative abundances of the vast majority of observed bacterial taxa, including E. coli, were not changed significantly by cranberry consumption. However, one unnamed Flavonifractor species (OTU41), which represented ≤1% of the overall metagenome, was significantly less abundant in cranberry consumers compared to placebo at trial completion. Given Flavonifractor’s association with negative human health effects, we sought to determine OTU41 characteristic genes that may explain its differential abundance and/or relationship to key host functions. Using comparative genomic and metagenomic techniques, we identified genes in OTU41 related to transport and metabolism of various compounds, including tryptophan and cobalamin, which have been shown to play roles in host-microbe interactions.ConclusionWhile our results indicated that cranberry juice consumption had little impact on global measures of the microbiome, we found one unnamed Flavonifractor species differed significantly between study arms. This suggests further studies are needed to assess the role of cranberry consumption and Flavonifractor in health and wellbeing in the context of recurrent UTI.Trial registrationClinical trial registration number: ClinicalTrials.govNCT01776021.

【 授权许可】

CC BY