Summary
The link between thegut microbiotaand type 2 diabetes (T2D) warrants further investigation because of known confounding effects fromantidiabetictreatment. Here, we profiled the gut microbiota in a discovery (n = 1,011) and validation (n = 484) cohort comprising Swedish subjects naive for diabetes treatment and grouped byglycemicstatus. We observed that overall gut microbiota composition was altered in groups withimpaired glucose tolerance, combined glucose intolerance and T2D, but not in those withimpaired fasting glucose. In addition, the abundance of severalbutyrateproducers and functional potential for butyrate production were decreased both in prediabetes and T2D groups. Multivariate analyses and machine learningmicrobiomemodels indicated that insulin resistance was strongly associated with microbial variations. Therefore, our study indicates that the gut microbiota represents an important modifiable factor to consider when developing precision medicine approaches for the prevention and/or delay of T2D.
