A gut microbiome-kidney-heart axis predictive of future cardiovascular diseases
Journal article, 2026
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) remain a major global health challenge. Early markers of disease initiation and progression are urgently needed. We, and others, have previously shown changes in the gut microbiome in association with metabolic and CVD. Here, we demonstrate that gut microbiome-related changes can be detected in association with subclinical variations in heart and kidney function. Markers related to gut microbial metabolism of aromatic amino acids, phenylalanine and tyrosine, associate with circulating pro-atrial natriuretic peptide and estimated glomerular filtration rate in a metabolically healthy European population. Observational and genetic evidence further identify microbiome-related metabolites as mediators of this gut microbiome-kidney axis, with their baseline levels associating with incident CVD in an external Canadian population. Altogether, our work suggests that the gut microbiome interacts with the cardiorenal axis and participates in an interorgan crosstalk affecting host physiology and risk of CVD.
Author
Kanta Chechi
Imperial College London
National Heart and Lung Institute
Rima Chakaroun
Leipzig University
Wallenberg Lab.
Antonis Myridakis
Imperial College London
Sofia K. Forslund
German Center for Cardiovascular Research DZHK
Charité University Medicine Berlin
The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine
Sebastien Fromentin
University Paris-Saclay
Trine Nielsen
University of Copenhagen
Zealand University Hospital
Steno Diabetes Center
Novo Nordisk Foundation
Judith Aron-Wisneswky
Pierre and Marie Curie University (UPMC)
Assistance publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP)
Eugeni Belda
Pierre and Marie Curie University (UPMC)
Edi Prifti
Pierre and Marie Curie University (UPMC)
Pierre Bel-Lassen
Assistance publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP)
Pierre and Marie Curie University (UPMC)
Gwen Falony
KU Leuven
Wageningen University and Research
University Medical Center Mainz
Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology
Sara Vieira-Silva
Universite catholique de Louvain
University Medical Center Mainz
Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology
KU Leuven
J. Chilloux
Imperial College London
Kazuhiro Sonomura
Shimadzu Corporation
L. Hoyles
Imperial College London
Nottingham Trent University
Laura Martinez-Gili
Imperial College London
Francesco Pallotti
Imperial College London
Kore University of Enna
Petros Andrikopoulos
Imperial College London
Francesc Puig-Castellvi
Lille University Hospital
Romina Pacheco Tapia
Lille University Hospital
Inés Castro-Dionicio
Lille University Hospital
Hugo Roume
University Paris-Saclay
Nicolas Pons
University Paris-Saclay
Emmanuelle Le Chatelier
University Paris-Saclay
Benoit Quinquis
University Paris-Saclay
Nathalie Galleron
University Paris-Saclay
Magali Berland
University Paris-Saclay
Michael Olanipekun
Imperial College London
Manyi Jia
Imperial College London
Angelos Manolias
Imperial College London
Bridget Holmes
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Danone Research
Solia Adriouch
Pierre and Marie Curie University (UPMC)
M. Bluher
Leipzig University
Luis P. Coelho
European Molecular Biology Laboratory
Kévin Da Silva
University Paris-Saclay
Pilar Galan
Inserm Transfert
Boyang Ji
Chalmers, Life Sciences, Systems and Synthetic Biology
BioInnovation Institute
Ana Luisa Neves
Imperial College London
Christine Rouault
Pierre and Marie Curie University (UPMC)
Joe-Elie Salem
Assistance publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP)
Valentina Tremaroli
Wallenberg Lab.
Tue H. Hansen
Novo Nordisk Foundation
University of Copenhagen
Zealand University Hospital
Nadja B. Søndertoft
Novo Nordisk Foundation
Christian Lewinter
Novo Nordisk Foundation
Helle K. Pedersen
Novo Nordisk Foundation
Peter D. Mark
Rigshospitalet
Jens P. Goetze
Rigshospitalet
Lars Køber
Rigshospitalet
University of Copenhagen
H. Vestergaard
Steno Diabetes Center
Novo Nordisk Foundation
Torben Hansen
University of Southern Denmark
Novo Nordisk Foundation
Jean-Daniel Zucker
Pierre and Marie Curie University (UPMC)
Taka Aki Sato
Shimadzu Corporation
Serge Hercberg
Inserm Transfert
Fredrik Bäckhed
Wallenberg Lab.
Sahlgrenska University Hospital
Ivica Letunic
Heidelberg University
Biobyte Solutions
Jean-Michel Oppert
Assistance publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP)
Jens B Nielsen
BioInnovation Institute
Chalmers, Life Sciences, Systems and Synthetic Biology
Jeroen Raes
KU Leuven
Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology
Ioanna Tzoulaki
Imperial College London
Academy of Athens
Abbas Dehghan
Imperial College London
Verena Zuber
Imperial College London
Emmanuelle Bouzigon
Inserm Transfert
Mark Lathrop
McGill University
Parminder Raina
McMaster University
Philippe Froguel
Imperial College London
Lille University Hospital
Fumihiko Matsuda
Kyoto University
Florence Demenais
Inserm Transfert
Dominique Gauguier
Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)
Kyoto University
McGill University
M. Stumvoll
Leipzig University
Peer Bork
European Molecular Biology Laboratory
The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine
Heidelberg University
O. B. Pedersen
Novo Nordisk Foundation
Gentofte Hospital
University of Copenhagen
Stanislav Dusko Ehrlich
University Paris-Saclay
University College London (UCL)
K. Clement
Pierre and Marie Curie University (UPMC)
Assistance publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP)
Marc-Emmanuel Dumas
McGill University
Lille University Hospital
Imperial College London
National Heart and Lung Institute
Nature Communications
2041-1723 (ISSN) 20411723 (eISSN)
Vol. 17 1Subject Categories (SSIF 2025)
Microbiology in the Medical Area
Cardiology and Cardiovascular Disease
Endocrinology and Diabetes
DOI
10.1038/s41467-026-69405-0
PubMed
41786749