Glycosylation is one of the most prevalent post-translational modifications of a protein, with a defining impact on its structure and function. Many of the proteins involved in the innate or adaptive immune response, including cytokines, chemokines, and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), are glycosylated, contributing to their myriad activities. The current availability of synthetic coupling and glycoengineering technology makes it possible to customise the most beneficial glycan modifications for improved AMP stability, microbicidal potency, pathogen specificity, tissue or cell targeting, and immunomodulation.

The rising burden of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a growing global public health problem, particularly prominent in developing countries. The early detection of T2DM and prediabetes is vital for reversing the outcome of disease, allowing early intervention. In the past decade, various microbiome–metabolome studies have attempted to address the question of whether there are any common microbial patterns that indicate either prediabetic or diabetic gut microbial signatures. Because current studies have a high methodological heterogeneity and risk of bias, we have selected studies that adhered to similar design and methodology. We performed a systematic review to assess if there were any common changes in microbiome belonging to diabetic, prediabetic and healthy individuals. The cross-sectional studies presented here collectively covered a population of 65,754 people, with 1800 in the 2TD group, 2770 in the prediabetic group and 61,184 in the control group. The overall microbial diversity scores were lower in the T2D and prediabetes cohorts in 86% of the analyzed studies. Re-programming of the microbiome is potentially one of the safest and long-lasting ways to eliminate diabetes in its early stages. The differences in the abundance of certain microbial species could serve as an early warning for a dysbiotic gut environment and could be easily modified before the onset of disease by changes in lifestyle, taking probiotics, introducing diet modifications or stimulating the vagal nerve. This review shows how metagenomic studies have and will continue to identify novel therapeutic targets (probiotics, prebiotics or targets for elimination from flora). This work clearly shows that gut microbiome intervention studies, if performed according to standard operating protocols using a predefined analytic framework (e.g., STORMS), could be combined with other similar studies, allowing broader conclusions from collating all global cohort studies efforts and eliminating the effect-size statistical insufficiency of a single study.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are key regulators of host–microbiome interactions. They influence diverse physiological processes through post-transcriptional gene regulation. Growing evidence indicates that host-derived miRNAs and microbially encoded miRNA-like molecules contribute to bidirectional signaling between the gut microbiota and the central nervous system. These interactions play a role in gut–brain axis communication. This review summarizes current findings on how host miRNAs shape microbial composition and function. It also examines emerging evidence that microbial miRNA-like molecules can modulate host gene expression. Particular attention is given to pathways involved in metabolic regulation, immune signaling, and neuroinflammatory processes relevant to gut–brain communication. In addition, we discuss the role of extracellular vesicles in miRNA transport and signaling. We critically assess the translational potential of miRNA-based biomarkers and therapeutic strategies, highlighting both their promise and current limitations. Overall, this review provides an integrated overview of miRNA-mediated host–microbiome interactions within the gut–brain axis and outlines key conceptual and experimental challenges that remain unresolved.

I ntestinal dysbiosis has been linked to metabolic disorders, including insulin resistance and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). T2DM typically follows a prediabetic stage, during which insulin resistance develops. During early stages of T2DM, its development can be corrected, thus potentially preventing or delaying the onset of the disease. This study aimed to compare the gut microbiome of individuals with elevated fasting blood glucose to that of individuals with glucose levels within the normal range. This study involved 65 older adults (ages 76–83 years) enrolled from the randomized controlled trial entitled the “Generation 100 Study”, all of whom consented to provide their gut microbiome samples. We employed a high-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene to obtain metagenomic microbial profiles for all participants. These profiles were then correlated with clinical measures. Overall, microbial alpha diversity was significantly reduced in the high glucose group. We have also observed distinct patterns of microbial beta diversity between high and normal glucose groups. At the phylum level, we found that Synergistes, Elusimicobia, Euryarchaeota, Verrucomicrobia, and Proteobacteria were all significantly decreased in participants with high blood glucose. Additionally, P. copri (ASV 909561) was significantly elevated (10-fold increase) in the high glucose groups, suggesting that it may serve as an early T2DM marker. In contrast to prior reports on the Fusobacterium genus, we found that it was significantly increased in the normal glucose group, with a significant 151-fold increase compared to the high glucose group. Our results indicate significant changes in the microbiome that may provide valuable insights for early intervention in pre-diabetic states.

Intestinal dysbiosis has been linked to metabolic disorders, including insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). T2DM typically follows a prediabetic stage, during which insulin resistance develops. During the early stages of T2DM, its development can be corrected, thus potentially preventing or delaying the onset of the disease. This secondary, exploratory, cross-sectional comparison study aimed to contrast the gut microbiome of individuals with elevated fasting blood glucose to that of individuals with glucose levels within the normal range. This study involved 65 older adults (ages 76–83 years) enrolled from the randomized controlled trial entitled the “Generation 100 Study”, all of whom consented to provide their gut microbiome samples. We employed a high-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene to obtain metagenomic microbial profiles for all participants. These profiles were then correlated with clinical measures. Overall, microbial alpha diversity was significantly reduced in the high glucose group. We have also observed distinct patterns of microbial beta diversity between high and normal glucose groups. At the phylum level, we found that Synergistes, Elusimicobia, Euryarchaeota, Verrucomicrobia, and Proteobacteria were all significantly decreased in participants with high blood glucose. Additionally, P. copri (ASV 909561) was significantly elevated (10-fold increase) in the high glucose groups, suggesting that it may serve as an early T2DM marker. In contrast to prior reports on the Fusobacterium genus, we found that it was significantly increased in the normal glucose group, with a significant 151-fold increase compared to the high glucose group. Directly linking gut microbiota profiles with clinical indicators such as fasting blood glucose and T2DM diagnosis allows the identification of specific microbial features associated with glucose dysregulation, providing preliminary population-level evidence to guide future translational research. Our results indicate significant changes in the microbiome that may provide valuable insights for early intervention in pre-diabetic states.

The rising burden of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a growing global public health problem, particularly prominent in developing countries. Early detection of T2DM and prediabetes is vital for reversing the outcome of disease, allowing early intervention. In the past decade various mi-crobiome-metabolome studies attempted to address the question whether there are any common microbial patterns which would indicate either prediabetic or diabetic gut microbial signatures. Because current studies have a high methodological heterogeneity and risk of bias, we have se-lected studies which adhered to similar design and methodology. We have performed a system-atic review to assess if there are any common changes in microbiome belonging to diabetic, pre-diabetic and healthy individuals. The presented here cross-sectional studies collectively covered a population of 65754 people, with 1800 in 2TD group, 2770 in prediabetic group and 61184 in control group. The overall microbial diversity scores were lower in T2D and prediabetes cohort in 86% of analysed herein studies. Re-programming microbiome is potentially one of the safest and long-lasting ways to eliminate diabetes in its early stages. The differences in abundance of certain microbial species could serve as an early warning for a dysbiotic gut environment and could be easily modified before the onset of disease by changes in lifestyle, through taking probi-otics, introducing diet modifications, or stimulating vagal nerve. This review shows how meta-genomic studies already had and will continue uncovering novel therapeutic targets (probiotics, prebiotics or targets for elimination from flora). This work clearly shows that gut microbiome intervention studies, if performed according to standard operating protocols using predefined analytic framework (e.g. STORMS), could be combined with other similar studies allowing broader conclusions from collating all global cohort studies efforts and eliminating the effect-size statistical insufficiency of a single study.