Abstract
Purpose :
The human gut microbiome is a complex ecosystem and refers to the combined genetic material of microorganisms in the gut. The gut microbiome has many important physiological functions, such as promoting digestion and absorption of nutrients, regulating the function of the immune system or synthesizing vitamins and amino acids. Dysbiotic conditions can favor invasion and growth of pathogenic species and can disrupt immune homeostasis, thus potentially induce diseases. In this study we investigated compositional alterations of the gut microbiome in patients with nonneovascular advanced age related macular degeneration (geographic atrophy).
Methods :
Twenty one patients with recent advanced geographic atrophy without therapeutic intervention were included. Twenty one individuals with no history of age related macular degeneration were included. The metagenomic DNA was analyzed in stool samples using the TruSeq DNA PCR-Free Library Preparation kit for library preparation and the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 platform for sequencing. Single nucleotid polymorphisms were analyzed.
Results :
Mean age of was 75 years. The taxonomical features and compositional difference between both groups will be presented. To identify taxonomic and functional features with significantly different relative abundances between both groups and to identify associations with clinical metadata, the multivariate association between by linear models (MaAsLin) R package was applied using default settings. A difference was considered to be statistically significant if q < 0.20 after adjusting for false discovery rate (Benjamini-Hochberg)
Conclusions :
The development of geographic atrophy may be influenced by compositional alterations of the intestinal microbiome.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.