{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,26]],"date-time":"2026-10-26T22:25:18Z","timestamp":1793053518775,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,23]],"date-time":"2023-01-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1674432000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Endocrinol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title><jats:p>Chronic hypercortisolism leads to a phenotype resembling metabolic syndrome. We aimed to investigate the association between gut microbiota and metabolic abnormalities in endogenous hypercortisolism (Cushing\u2019s syndrome).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>A total of 23 patients with Cushing\u2019s syndrome (18 female and 5 men, aged 47.24 \u00b1 12.99 years) and 30 age-, sex-and BMI-matched healthy controls (18 female and 12 men, aged 45.03 \u00b1 6.69 years) were consecutively recruited. Differences in gut microbiota and plasma short-chain fatty acid (SCFAs) concentrations between the Cushing\u2019s syndrome patients and controls were analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Compared to the controls, the Simpson and Pielou indices of \u03b1 diversity were dramatically decreased in Cushing\u2019s syndrome (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.05). The gut microbiota community structure differed significantly between Cushing\u2019s syndrome patients and controls. Compared to controls, the bacterial communities of the Cushing\u2019s syndrome patients were enriched in <jats:italic>Proteobacteria<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Escherichia-Shigella<\/jats:italic>, and depleted in <jats:italic>Firmicutes<\/jats:italic>, including <jats:italic>Agathobacter<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Blautia<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Anaerostipes<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Eubacterium_eligens_group<\/jats:italic>, and <jats:italic>Lachnospira<\/jats:italic>. Spearman analysis demonstrated that HbA1c, SBP, DBP, and cortisol levels were significantly positively correlated with <jats:italic>Proteobacteria<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Escherichia-Shigella<\/jats:italic>, whereas negatively correlated with <jats:italic>Agathobacter, Blautia, Anaerostipes, Eubacterium_hallii_group, and Lachnospira<\/jats:italic>, etc. Cushing\u2019s syndrome patients also had a lower propionic acid concentration (0.151\u00b10.054 <jats:italic>vs.<\/jats:italic> 0.205\u00b10.032 \u00b5g\/mL, <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>=0.039) than controls. Furthermore, the level of propionic acid was negatively correlated with systolic pressure and cortisol levels (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>&amp;lt;0.05).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Gut microbiota dysbiosis and decreased propionic acid levels were observed in patients with Cushing\u2019s, suggesting that the gut microbiota may be a potential therapeutic intervention target to improve hypercortisolism-related metabolic abnormalities.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fendo.2022.1095438","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,23]],"date-time":"2023-01-23T14:49:18Z","timestamp":1674485358000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":25,"title":["Dysbiosis of gut microbiota and decreased propionic acid associated with metabolic abnormality in Cushing\u2019s 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