Certain gastrointestinal disorders share microbial biomarkers, a study finds, with researchers predicting the discovery could lead to new diagnostic tools to aid early detection.
Gastrointestinal disorders affected nearly 40% of the global population, with gut microbiome-metabolome interactions known to play a crucial role in gastric cancer, colorectal cancer and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), researchers wrote in the Journal of Translational Medicine.
In this latest study, they aimed to investigate how microbial and metabolic alterations contributed to disease development and test whether biomarkers identified in one disease could be used to predict others.
The research team from the University of Birmingham Dubai, and the UK’s University of Birmingham and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, used advanced machine learning algorithms to analyse microbiome and metabolome datasets from patients with gastric cancer, colorectal cancer and IBD as well as healthy controls.
With the complexity of microbiome-metabolite interactions and their critical role in gastrointestinal disorders, it had become more beneficial to train machine learning models to produce highly accurate, reproducible and interpretable insights from large and complex datasets, the researchers wrote.
Their analysis suggested that differential microbes and metabolites associated with gastric cancer could also serve as potential biomarkers for predicting IBD.
‘Interestingly, when we examined the microbes and metabolites linked to [colorectal cancer], we found that they had a stronger predictive performance for [gastric cancer] than for IBD,’ they added.
‘These observations point to the possibility of overlapping disease pathways and biological mechanisms, supporting the idea that microbes and metabolites from one [gastrointestinal disorders] can be used to predict another.’
Identifying microbial biomarkers
For colorectal cancer, microbes identified were predominantly from the phylum Firmicutes, followed by Bacteroidetes, Fusobacteriota, Actinobacteriota and Deinococcota, with significant metabolites shown to include isoleucine and nicotinamide.
At the phylum level, most of the microbes identified in IBD belonged to Firmicutes and Actinobacteriota, with metabolites including urobilin and glycerate also shown to be important.
For gastric cancer, bacteria from the Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria groups were common, with changes noted in certain metabolites including dihydrouracil and taurine.
To further validate the findings, researchers cross-referenced the identified microbes and metabolites with existing literature which reinforced that idea that different gastrointestinal disorders share certain biomarkers.
The research team also simulated gut microbial growth and metabolite fluxes, revealing significant metabolic differences between healthy and diseased states.
Biomarkers for early identification and personalised treatment
Co-author Dr Animesh Acharjee, assistant professor of integrative analytics and AI at the Department of Cancer and Genomic Sciences at the University of Birmingham Dubai, said current diagnostic methods such as endoscopy and biopsies were effective but could be invasive, expensive and sometimes missed early-stage disease.
‘Our analysis offers a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms driving disease progression and identifies key biomarkers for targeted therapies,’ he said.
‘These biomarkers could help identify diseases earlier and more accurately, leading to better, more personalised treatment.’
Dr Acharjee said the study’s cross-disease analysis showed the potential of using microbial and metabolic biomarkers identified in one gastrointestinal disorder to predict another.
‘This innovative approach could lead to the development of universal diagnostic tools to revolutionise the diagnosis and treatment of for multiple gastrointestinal conditions,’ he said.
Researchers planned to further explore the clinical applications of their findings and validate the models in larger and more diverse patient cohorts.
Previous research
The study followed recent observational research showing how the microbes of patients with coeliac disease varied from healthy controls and also how the microbiome changed after a year on a gluten-free diet.
The difficulties of detecting colorectal cancer at an early stage have also been highlighted recently, with researchers finding people with chronic conditions were more inclined to attribute bowel habit changes to medication side effects rather than suspecting cancer.
Although screening practices and early diagnosis have improved, many colorectal cancer cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage, highlighting that symptoms can be challenging to recognise and a need for strategies for earlier diagnosis.
