2024/10/24 by Michael L. Neugent, Neha V. Hulyalkar, Debasish Ghosh +4 · 1 voice
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Medicine · #Gut microbiota and health #Urinary Bladder and Prostate Research #Urinary Tract Infections Management
paper · pdf · doi:10.1101/2024.10.22.619727
openalex publication_date 2024/10/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/14
Recurrent urinary tract infections (rUTIs) are a major clinical challenge and their increasing prevalence underscores the need to define host-microbiome interactions underlying susceptibility. How the urinary microbiota engages with the biochemical environment of the urogenital tract is yet to be fully defined. Here, we leverage paired metagenomic and quantitative metabolomic data to establish a microbe-metabolite association network of the female urinary microbiome and define metabolic signatures of rUTI. We observe unique metabolic networks of uropathogens and uroprotective species, highlighting potential metabolite-driven ecological shifts influencing rUTI susceptibility. We find distinct metabolites are associated with urinary microbiome diversity and identify a lipid signature of active rUTI that accurately distinguishes cases from controls. Finally, we identify deoxycholic acid as a prognostic indicator for UTI recurrence. Together these findings provide insight into microbiome-metabolite interactions within the female urinary tract and highlight new biomarkers for the development of new diagnostic tools to improve patient outcomes.