Intestinal microbiome is related to lifetime antibiotic use in Finnish pre-school children

By K. Korpela, A. Salonen, L. Virta, R. Kekkonen, Kristoffer Forslund, Peer Bork, W. D. de Vos. Nature Communications, 2016

637 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Early-life antibiotic use is associated with increased risk for metabolic and immunological diseases, and mouse studies indicate a causal role of the disrupted microbiome. However, little is known about the impacts of antibiotics on the developing microbiome of children. Here we use phylogenetics, metagenomics and individual antibiotic purchase records to show that macrolide use in 2–7 year-old Finnish children (N=142; sampled at two time points) is associated with a long-lasting shift in microbiota composition and metabolism. The shift includes depletion of Actinobacteria, increase in Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria, decrease in bile-salt hydrolase and increase in macrolide resistance. Furthermore, macrolide use in early life is associated with increased risk of asthma and predisposes to antibiotic-associated weight gain. Overweight and asthmatic children have distinct microbiota compositions. Penicillins leave a weaker mark on the microbiota than macrolides. Our results support the idea that, without compromising clinical practice, the impact on the intestinal microbiota should be considered when prescribing antibiotics. The impact of antibiotics on the microbiome and health of children is poorly understood. Here, Korpela et al. study the gut microbiome of 142 children and show that the use of macrolides, but not penicillins, is associated with long-lasting shifts in microbiota composition and increased risk of asthma and overweight.

Subfields: Molecular Biology, Physiology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/8f60917ca66799ae5aee5c7bf6ddcc0310e854b7

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Molecular Biology

1. C. Belzer
2. D. van Sinderen
3. W. D. de Vos
4. Y. Taur
5. Eric G. Pamer
6. Martin J. Blaser
7. J. Mahony
8. J. Durack

In Physiology

1. D. van Sinderen
2. Eric G. Pamer
3. Martin J. Blaser
4. C. Stanton
5. G. A. Weiss
6. T. Hennet
7. W. D. de Vos

Citations in the corpus

• Antibiotics as Major Disruptors of Gut Microbiota (2020, background): “Numerous studies have shown links between changes in the composition of the gut microbiota and diseases, including recurrent diarrhea associated with C. difficile, some bowel disorders (including IBD), colorectal cancer, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and advanced chronic l”
• Impact of antibiotics on the human microbiome and consequences for host health (2022, background): “Antibiotic use during infancy and childhood has been associated with the altered microbial composition and metabolic functions (Korpela et al.,2016), higher risk of asthma and allergy development (Ni et al., 2019; Yamamoto‐ Hanada et al., 2017), and obesity (L. C. Bailey et al., 2014) in later life.”
• Antibiotic-Induced Changes in the Intestinal Microbiota and Disease. (2016, background): “This profile positively correlated with either a later development of asthma or an increase in body mass index [89].”
• Mechanisms and consequences of intestinal dysbiosis (2017, background): “Whereas several antibiotics, such as amoxicillin, do not have any significant long-term impact on the gut microbiota , treatment of children with macrolide antibiotics lead to long-lasting decrease in Firmicutes and Actinobacteria with concomitant increase in Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria [90].”
• The gut microbiome: Relationships with disease and opportunities for therapy (2018, background): “, 2017), antimicrobial administration (Johnson et al., 2005; Korpela et al., 2016; Ahmadizar et al., 2017; Yamamoto-Hanada et al., 2017), formula feeding, exposure to furred pets, and environmental toxins (Levin et al.”
• The First Microbial Colonizers of the Human Gut: Composition, Activities, and Health Implications of the Infant Gut Microbiota (2017, background): “When the infant microbiota is exposed to antibiotics the diversity can drop to an even lower value compared to that of a reference non-antibiotic-treated, breastfed infant (2, 457).”
• Antibiotic use and its consequences for the normal microbiome (2016, background): “We must clearly understand the real costs, including the differences between particular antimicrobial agents in their effects on the microbiome (11) and, thus, the consequent sequelae on child development (12).”