Compositional and Functional Alterations of the Gut Microbiota in Diabetes and Its Complications: Metabolomic Pathways and Clinical Implications

Diabetes mellitus and its complications remain major drivers of global morbidity and mortality, contributing to progressive damage across the renal, cardiovascular, neural, retinal, hepatic, and immune systems. Among these complications, diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is one of the most common and devastating; however, growing evidence shows that gut microbiota dysbiosis is also implicated more broadly in the pathogenesis and progression of other diabetes-associated complications, including cardiovascular disease, neuropathy, retinopathy, impaired wound healing, and metabolic liver dysfunction. Both compositional and functional alterations in the gut microbiota may influence host metabolism, intestinal barrier integrity, systemic inflammation, immune activation, oxidative stress, and tissue fibrosis. In parallel, gut-derived metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids, bile acids, indoles, branched-chain amino acid derivatives, and trimethylamine-(N)-oxide have emerged as important mediators linking microbial activity to organ-specific injury and metabolic dysfunction. Despite rapid progress in the field, the mechanistic links between gut microbial dysbiosis, metabolomic pathways, and diabetic complications remain incompletely understood and are not yet well integrated into clinical practice.This Research Topic aims to advance understanding of how compositional and functional changes in the gut microbiota contribute to the development, progression, and heterogeneity of diabetes complications through metabolomic and other microbiome-associated mechanisms. We welcome studies spanning basic, translational, and clinical research that integrate microbiology, endocrinology, nephrology, cardiometabolic medicine, immunology, and systems biology. Particular interest will be given to work exploring how microbial signatures and metabolites shape inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, oxidative stress, mitochondrial injury, fibrosis, vascular damage, and altered immune responses in diabetes. We also encourage investigations into microbiome-informed diagnostics, prognostic biomarkers, and therapeutic strategies, including dietary interventions, prebiotics, probiotics, postbiotics, targeted antimicrobials, fecal microbiota transplantation, and modulation of host–microbe metabolic pathways. Studies addressing sex-related differences, disease stage, treatment response, and cross-ethnic or population-level variation in the diabetic gut microbiome are especially encouraged.We welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:-Microbial composition and functional changes associated with diabetes and its complications-Gut microbial metabolites as mediators or biomarkers of organ injury-Host–microbe immune crosstalk in diabetic inflammation and tissue damage-The gut microbiome in diabetic kidney disease, cardiovascular complications, neuropathy, retinopathy, liver dysfunction, and impaired wound repair-Multi-omics integration, including metagenomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, and proteomics-Therapeutic interventions targeting the gut microbiota-Machine learning or systems biology approaches for microbiome-based stratification and predictionTopic Editor Junguk Hut is a consultant for YooJinBioSoft Co., Ltd., Software company. The other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject Topic editors: Junguk Hur, Chukwuka Elendu Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/80171/compositional-and-functional-alterations-of-the-gut-microbiota-in-diabetes-and-its-complications-metabolomic-pathways-and-clinical-implications