The dysbiosis gut microbiota induces the alternation of metabolism and imbalance of Th17/Treg in OSA patients

The aim of this research was to test the hypothesis that changes in the intestinal microbiota lead to the alternation of histidine metabolism and Th17/Treg cell imbalance in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients. In total, 46 subjects were enrolled in the study, with 32 subjects in the OSA group and 14 in the healthy group, according to polysomnography examinations. Basic clinical characteristics were collected for this analysis. Feces were collected from OSA patients to detect the gut microbiota using 16S rRNA sequencing. Peripheral blood was obtained to detect the Th17/Treg cell ratio by flow cytometry. The present research demonstrated that at the phylum level, OSA patients have a disproportionate Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio with increased Firmicutes and decreased Bacteroidetes in the gut microbiota compared to the healthy population. A Metastats analysis also indicated that the family Rikenellaceae was prevalent in the control group but not the OSA group. In addition, the abundance of Clostridium_XlVa was reduced and the abundance of Alistipes was elevated in healthy subjects at the genus level. Furthermore, a Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States analysis identified the alternation of metabolic pathways in OSA patients. The current study also identified an imbalance of Th17/Treg cells in OSA patients, with OSA patients having an elevated number of Treg cells compared to the control group. We determined that the abundance of Rikenellaceae and Alistipes increased and Clostridium_XlVa decreased in patients with OSA, which may have caused an imbalance in the proportion of Th17/Treg cells.