Elevated serum ceramides are linked with obesity-associated gut dysbiosis and impaired glucose metabolism

Introduction: Low gut microbiome richness is associated with dyslipidemia and insulin resistance, and ceramides and other sphingolipids are implicated in the development of diabetes. Objectives: Determine whether circulating sphingolipids, particularly ceramides, are associated with alterations in the gut microbiome among obese patients with increased diabetes risk. Methods: This was a cross-sectional and longitudinal retrospective analysis of a dietary/weight loss intervention. Fasted serum was collected from 49 participants (41 women) and analyzed by HPLC–MS/MS to quantify 45 sphingolipids. Shotgun metagenomic sequencing of stool was performed to profile the gut microbiome. Results: Confirming the link to deteriorated glucose homeostasis, serum ceramides were positively correlated with fasting glucose, but inversely correlated with fasting and OGTT-derived measures of insulin sensitivity and β-cell function. Significant associations with gut dysbiosis were demonstrated, with SM and ceramides being inversely correlated with gene richness. Ceramides with fatty acid chain lengths of 20–24 carbons were the most associated with low richness. Diet-induced weight loss, which improved gene richness, decreased most sphingolipids. Thirty-one MGS, mostly corresponding to unidentified bacteria species, were inversely correlated with ceramides, including a number of Bifidobacterium and Methanobrevibacter smithii. Higher ceramide levels were also associated with increased metagenomic modules for lipopolysaccharide synthesis and flagellan synthesis, two pathogen-associated molecular patterns, and decreased enrichment of genes involved in methanogenesis and bile acid metabolism. Conclusion: This study identifies an association between gut microbiota richness, ceramides, and diabetes risk in overweight/obese humans, and suggests that the gut microbiota may contribute to dysregulation of lipid metabolism in metabolic disorders.