Microbiome Hormones

The human gut microbiome plays an important role in the maturation of the neural, immune, and endocrine systems. Research data from animal models shows that gut microbiota communicate with the host's brain in an elaborate network of signaling pathways, including the vagus nerve. Part of the microbiome's influence extends to the behavioral and social development of its host. As a social species, a human's ability to communicate with others is imperative to their survival and quality of life. Current research explores the gut microbiota's developmental influence as well as how these gut-brain pathways can be leveraged to alleviate the social symptoms associated with various neurodevelopmental and psychiatric diseases...

Purpose: Mounting evidence indicates that psychological stress adversely affects cancer progression including tumor growth and metastasis. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of chronic stress-induced microbiome perturbation in colorectal cancer (CRC) progression. Methods: Chronic restraint stress (CRS) was used to establish the chronic stress mouse model, behavioral tests were used for the CRS model evaluation. Subcutaneous xenograft model and lung metastasis model were established to investigate the growth and metastasis of CRC promoted by CRS exposure...

Obesity remains a significant global health challenge, with bariatric surgery remaining as one of the most effective treatments for severe obesity and its related comorbidities. This review highlights the multifaceted impact of bariatric surgery beyond mere physical restriction or nutrient malabsorption, underscoring the importance of the gut microbiome and neurohormonal signals in mediating the profound effects on weight loss and behavior modification. The various bariatric surgery procedures, such as Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) and sleeve gastrectomy (SG), act through distinct mechanisms to alter the gut microbiome, subsequently impacting metabolic health, energy balance, and food reward behaviors...

Metabolic dysfunction associated with obesity leads to a chronic pro-inflammatory state with systemic effects, including the alteration of macrophage metabolism. Tumor-associated macrophages have been linked to the formation of cancer through the production of metabolites such as itaconate. Itaconate downregulates peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma as a tumor-suppressing factor and upregulates anti-inflammatory cytokines in M2-like macrophages. Similarly, leptin and adiponectin also influence macrophage cytokine expression and contribute to the progression of colorectal cancer via changes in gene expression within the PI3K/AKT pathway...

Malnutrition affects 195 million children under the age of five worldwide with long term effects that include impaired cognitive development. Brain development occurs rapidly over the first 36 months of life. Whilst seemingly independent, changes to the brain and gut microbiome are linked by metabolites, hormones, and neurotransmitters as part of the gut-brain axis. In the context of severe malnutrition, the composition of the gut microbiome and the repertoire of biochemicals exchanged via the gut-brain axis vary when compared to healthy individuals...

Locally advanced breast cancer poses significant challenges to the multidisciplinary team, in particular with hormone receptor (HR) positive, HER2-negative tumors that classically yield lower pathological complete responses with chemotherapy. The increasingly significant use of CDK 4/6 inhibitors (CDK4/6i) plus endocrine therapy (ET) in different breast cancer settings has led to clinical trials focusing on this strategy as a primary treatment, with promising results. The impact of the microbiota on cancer, and vice-versa, is an emerging topic in oncology...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The analysis of microbiome in association with female health is today a "hot topic" with the main focus on microbes in the female reproductive tract. Nevertheless, recent studies are providing novel information of the possible influence of the gut microbiome on gynecological health outcomes, especially as we start to understand that the gut microbiome is an extended endocrine organ influencing female hormonal levels. This review summarizes the current knowledge of the gut microbes in association with gynecological health...

INTRODUCTION: Melatonin (MEL) is a crucial neuroendocrine hormone primarily produced by the pineal gland. Pinealectomy (PINX) has been performed on an endogenous MEL deficiency model to investigate the functions of pineal MEL and its relationship with various diseases. However, the effect of PINX on the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) MEL levels and gut microbiome in pigs has not been previously reported. METHODS: By using a newly established pig PINX model, we detected the levels of MEL in the GIT by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry...

Often associated with obesity, male infertility represents a widespread condition that challenges the wellbeing of the couple. In this article, we provide a comprehensive and critical analysis of studies exploring the association between obesity and male reproductive function, to evaluate the frequency of this association, and establish the effects of increased body weight on conventional and biofunctional sperm parameters and infertility. In an attempt to find possible molecular markers of infertility in obese male patients, the numerous mechanisms responsible for infertility in overweight/obese patients are reviewed in depth...

Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease associated with psychological distress and intestinal microbial changes. Here, we examined whether a 3-month period of Cognitive Behavioral and Mindfulness with Daily Exercise (COBMINDEX) intervention, which improves the wellbeing and inflammatory state of CD patients, may also affect their gut microbiome. Gut microbiota, circulating inflammatory markers and hormones were analyzed in 24 CD patients before (T1) and after 3 months of COBMINDEX (T2), and in 25 age- and sex-matched wait-list control patients at the corresponding time-points...

Sex differences are present across multiple non-reproductive organ cancers, with male individuals generally experiencing higher incidence of cancer with poorer outcomes. Although some mechanisms underlying these differences are emerging, the immunological basis is not well understood. Observations from clinical trials also suggest a sex bias in conventional immunotherapies with male individuals experiencing a more favourable response and female individuals experiencing more severe adverse events to immune checkpoint blockade...

BACKGROUND: Growth hormone deficiency(GHD) and idiopathic short stature(ISS) are the primary causes of short stature in children. Animal experiments have revealed a link between growth hormone(GH), gut microbiota and metabolism, however, limited information is available from human trials. METHODS: Fecal samples collected from GHD (n = 36), ISS (n = 32) and healthy control (HC) children(n = 16) were subjected to microbiome (16 S rRNA gene sequencing) and metabolome (nuclear magnetic resonance,NMR) analyses...

PURPOSE: Evidence from previous experimental and observational research demonstrates that the gut microbiota is related to circulating adipokine concentrations. Nevertheless, the debate as to whether gut microbiome composition causally influences circulating adipokine concentrations remains unresolved. This study aimed to take an essential step in elucidating this issue. METHODS: We used two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) to causally analyze genetic variation statistics for gut microbiota and four adipokines (including adiponectin, leptin, soluble leptin receptor [sOB-R], and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 [PAI-1]) from large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) datasets...

SCOPE: l-Theanine (l-Thea) is an amino acid which is naturally present in tea leaves. It has been associated with possible health advantages, including obesity prevention, but the underlying molecular mechanisms have not been elucidated. METHODS AND RESULTS: A multiomics approach is utilized to examine the mechanism by which l-Thea exerts its antiobesity effects. This study reveals that l-Thea administration significantly ameliorates high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity in rats by improving body weight and hyperlipidemia...

CONTEXT: Patients with adrenal hormone excess demonstrate increased cardiovascular risk and mortality. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine the impact of adrenal disorders on the inflammation marker GlycA, total branched-chain amino acids (BCAA), ketone bodies and the gut microbiome-derived metabolites trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) and betaine. METHODS: We conducted a single-center cross-sectional study of patients with nonfunctioning adenomas (NFA), mild autonomous cortisol secretion (MACS), primary aldosteronism (PA), Cushing syndrome (CS), pheochromocytoma/paragangliomas (PPGL), other benign or malignant adrenal masses, and adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) between January 2015 and July 2022 (n=802)...

Somatostatin, a somatotropin release inhibiting factor (SST, SRIF), is a widely distributed multifunctional cyclic peptide and acts through a transmembrane G protein-coupled receptor (SST1-SST5). Over the past decades, research has begun to reveal the molecular mechanisms underlying the anticancer activity of this hormonal peptide. Among gastrointestinal tract (GIT) tumors, direct and indirect antitumor effects of SST have been documented best in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs) and less well in non-endocrine cancers, including sporadic colorectal cancer (CRC)...

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that leads to physical and cognitive impairment in young adults. The increasing prevalence of MS underscores the critical need for innovative therapeutic approaches. Recent advances in neuroimmunology have highlighted the significant role of the gut microbiome in MS pathology, unveiling distinct alterations in patients' gut microbiota. Dysbiosis not only impacts gut-intrinsic processes but also influences the production of bacterial metabolites and hormones, which can regulate processes in remote tissues, such as the CNS...

AIMS: Epidemiological research has shown relevant differences between sexes in clinical manifestations, severity, and progression of cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. To date, the mechanisms underlying these differences remain unknown. Given the rising incidence of such diseases, gender-specific research on established and emerging risk factors, such as dysfunction of glycaemic and/or lipid metabolism, of sex hormones and of gut microbiome, is of paramount importance. The relationships between sex hormones, gut microbiome, and host glycaemic and/or lipid metabolism are largely unknown even in the homoeostasis status...

Gender affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) is often prescribed to transgender (TG) adolescents to alleviate gender dysphoria, but the impact of GAHT on the growing skeleton is unclear. We found GAHT to improve trabecular bone structure via increased bone formation in young male mice and not to affect trabecular structure in female mice. GAHT modified gut microbiome composition in both male and female mice. However, fecal microbiota transfers (FMT) revealed that GAHT-shaped gut microbiome was a communicable regulator of bone structure and turnover in male, but not in female mice...

Strigolactones (SLs) are a new class of plant hormones that play a significant role in regulating various aspects of plant growth promotion, stress tolerance and influence the rhizospheric microbiome. GR24 is a synthetic SL analog used in scientific research to understand the effects of SL on plants and to act as a plant growth promoter. This study aimed to conduct hormonal seed priming at different concentrations of GR24 (0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 5.0 and 10.0 µM with and without arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculation in selected aerobic rice varieties (CR Dhan 201, CR Dhan 204, CR Dhan 205, and CR Dhan 207), Kasalath-IC459373 (P-tolerant check), and IR-36 (P-susceptible check) under phosphorus (P)-deficient conditions to understand the enhancement of growth and priming effects in mycorrhization...