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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Endocrinol.

Sec. Gut Endocrinology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1643566

This article is part of the Research TopicThe Role of Gut Microbes and Their Metabolites in Metabolic Diseases: Mechanisms and Therapeutic TargetsView all 3 articles

The gut microbiome: a vital link to hyperuricemia, gout and acute flares?

Provisionally accepted
Wei WangWei Wang1Liping WangLiping Wang2Jing ChenJing Chen3Xinyi YangXinyi Yang1Qingyu GuoQingyu Guo1Zhen ZhangZhen Zhang4Jingjing LiangJingjing Liang1*Ping GuPing Gu1*Jiaqing ShaoJiaqing Shao1*
  • 1Department of Endocrinology, Jinling Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
  • 2Department of Endocrinology, Zibo Central Hospital, Zibo, China
  • 3Department of Endocrinology, Jinhu County People's Hospital, Huai'an, China
  • 4Department of Endocrinology, Jinling Hospital, The First School of Clinical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Nanjing, China

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Objectives: To explore the associations between the gut microbiome and asymptomatic hyperuricemia, as well as acute gout flares. Methods: Forty-three Chinese participants were divided into healthy and hyperuricemic groups according to serum uric acid (SUA) levels. The hyperuricemia group were further separated into asymptomatic hyperuricemia (HUA) and gout patients on the basis of their clinical symptoms. In addition, the gout group was further divided into intercritical gout and acute gout groups on the basis of the claim of joint pain and relevant clinical parameters. 16S rRNA sequencing was used to evaluate the microbiome composition of all the groups. Results: A dramatic decreasing trend in microbial richness and diversity was observed in hyperuricemic patients compared with healthy controls. The same decreasing trend in microbial relative abundance was also observed. The butyrate-producing genera Faecalibacterium, Coprococcus and Enterococcus were markedly decreased in hyperuricemic patients. Moreover, opportunistic pathogens, such as the phylum Proteobacteria and genus Fusobacterium, were enriched in the hyperuricemia group. Furthermore, the gut microbiota of gout patients also exhibited significantly reduced microbial diversity compared with asymptomatic hyperuricemic patients, characterized by decreased richness of the genera Dialister, Ruminococcus, and Faecalibacterium. Greater differences in microbial richness and diversity can still be observed when gout flares occur. The abundances of Bacteroides and Lachnospira genera decreased in the acute gout stage. Conclusion: Our study revealed that community richness and diversity change during the process of gout or HUA, especially during acute gout flares. Metagenomic species were significantly altered during different stages of hyperuricemia.

Keywords: Gout, Hyperuricemia, Gut Microbiota, Acute gout, Asymptomatic hyperuricemia

Received: 09 Jun 2025; Accepted: 22 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Wang, Chen, Yang, Guo, Zhang, Liang, Gu and Shao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Jingjing Liang, Department of Endocrinology, Jinling Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
Ping Gu, Department of Endocrinology, Jinling Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
Jiaqing Shao, Department of Endocrinology, Jinling Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material