Alteration in gut microbiota composition and functional relevance in subclinical carotid atherosclerosis in the general popolation

Gut Microbiota (GM) dysbiosis associates with Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Diseases (ACVD), but whether this also holds true in subjects without clinically manifest ACVD represents a challenge of personalized prevention. We connected exposure to diet (self-reported by food diaries) and markers of Subclinical Carotid Atherosclerosis (SCA) with individual taxonomic and functional GM profiles (from fecal metagenomic DNA) of 345 subjects without previous clinically manifest ACVD. We took advantage of 16s rRNA-based analysis to characterize taxonomic GM composition on an epidemiological study representative of the general population characterized by low CVD risk and analyzed for presence of subclinical carotid atherosclerosis (SCA); then, advanced metagenomic analysis on a subset of 23 samples characterized by presence of SCA and intima-media thickning and 23 healthy individuals was set to derive functional relevance of dysbiosis in pre-clinical setting and to identify the bacterial species mainly responsible of GM dysregulation during SCA progression.