Alterations of the gut commensal Akkermansia muciniphila in patients with COVID-19

Dysbiosis of gut microbiota is well established in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). While studies have attempted to establish a link between the gut commensal Akkermansia muciniphila (A. muciniphila) and COVID-19, the findings have been inconsistent and sometimes controversial. The intestinal microbial abundance information of COVID-19 patients was acquired and analysed from GMrepo database. Subsequently, A. muciniphila’s metabolites, target-genes, and metabolite-target relationships was extracted from GutMGene database. Lastly, coronascape module in Metascape database is used for gene annotation and enrichment analysis in various host cells and tissues after SARS-CoV-2 infection. The results indicated that, in comparison to healthy people, A. muciniphila was significantly elevated in COVID-19 patients. This bacterium was found to be associated with heightened expression of IL-10, TLR2, TLR4, CLGN, CLDN4, TJP2, and TJP3, while concurrently experiencing a reduction in the expression of IL-12A and IL-12B in humans. The regulatory genes of A. muciniphila primarily enhance responses to viruses and cytokines, positively regulate cell migration, and control epithelial cell proliferation. Our study revealed a significant increase in the gut commensal A. muciniphila in COVID-19 patients. This bacterium can modulate host immune responses and may also serve as a probiotic with antiviral properties.