The Gut Microbiome in Pre-Diabetes: Biomarkers, Computational Approaches, and Therapeutic Potential

Pre-diabetes is a metabolic disorder characterised by higher than normal blood glucose levels, resulting in hyperglycemia. As a precursor to diabetes, pre-diabetes remains one of the most detrimental disorders for the larger global health. Improvement in understanding of the gut microbiome has led to the discovery of correlations between species present in the human gut microbiota and the onset of metabolic syndrome. Gut dysbiosis serves as a potent biomarker for the detection of pre-diabetes, and its progression into Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). Key biological processes, including metabolism, inflammation, insulin receptivity, and gut permeability, are impacted by the gut microbiota’s diversity of bacterial taxa and presence of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), inflammatory markers, cytokines, metabolites, proteins, and lipopolysaccharides (LPS). These markers offer insight on the gut microbiome’s composition and support effective methods of intervention, including for the prevention of transition to T2DM. Obtaining and analyzing host microbiome data and integrating multi-omics approaches requires enhanced computational techniques, including advancements in machine learning. This offers personalised treatment for patients, including fecal transplants, diet, synbiotics, and anti-diabetic drugs. The gut microbiome’s potent influence on pre-diabetes serves as a future direction to improve patient care for glycemic disorders through enhanced therapeutic interventions.