They explain the association between the human microbiome and diabetes
Understanding how the microbiome affects metabolism could potentially lead to microbe-based treatments to prevent type 1 diabetes.
The human microbiome (the genomes of microorganisms that reside within the human body) varies between individuals, populations, and environments, and is known to influence human health and disease, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), prediabetes, and preterm pregnancy and birth .
Now, a study in ‘ Science ‘ shows that the microbiome plays a key role in diabetes, determining the development of insulin-producing cells in childhood , leading to long-term changes in metabolism and diabetes risk.
The results of this mouse study could help reduce the risk of type 1 diabetes in the future (or even potentially restore metabolic function lost in adulthood) by providing specific gut microbes that help the pancreas grow and heal.
“This shows how important the microbiota is during this very short initial period of development,” says June Round , one of the study’s lead authors.
Research has identified specific microbes that increase the amount of insulin-producing tissue and the level of insulin in the blood . One of these metabolism-boosting microbes is a little-studied fungus called Candida dubliniensis , which is not found in healthy human adults but is more common in infants.
Exposure to C. dubliniensis early in life also dramatically reduced the risk of type 1 diabetes in at-risk male mice . When male mice genetically predisposed to developing type 1 diabetes were colonized by a metabolically “neutral” microbe in infancy, they developed the disease 90% of the time. However, those colonized with the fungus developed diabetes less than 15% of the time. The researchers found that exposure to C. dubliniensis could even help a damaged pancreas recover. When they introduced the fungus to adult mice whose insulin-producing cells had been eliminated, the insulin-producing cells regenerated and metabolic function improved—a highly unusual occurrence since this type of cell does not normally grow during adulthood.
If the benefits seen in mice hold true in humans, microbe-derived molecules could help restore pancreatic function in people with diabetes . But Jennifer Hill , the study’s first author , cautions that treatments that help beta cells regenerate in mice have historically not led to improvements in human health.
The researchers explain that the fungus C. dubliniensis improves metabolic function by influencing the immune system of the pancreas.
Both Hill and Round say it’s possible that other microbes confer similar benefits to C. dubliniensis. “ We don’t know much about how the microbiome affects health in early life,” Hill says. “But we’re finding that these early-life signals do affect early development and also have long-term consequences for metabolic health.”
The authors conclude that understanding how the microbiome affects metabolism could potentially lead to microbe-based treatments to prevent type 1 diabetes.
Author: R. Ibarra
Date: 06/03/2025
Updated at 8:07 p.m.
Source: Abc.es
Note: The Nutrigenomics Institute is not responsible for the opinions expressed in this article.
PHOTO FROM PIXABAY.
