Targeting the Microbiome in Heart Failure

Opinion statement

Heart failure is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in the world today. While there have been major advances in our understanding of the pathophysiology of heart failure over the past decades, disease progression remains inevitable in the majority of patients and effective therapies to prevent heart failure are still lacking. Research has turned to better understand the gut microbiome because alterations in their ecosystems have been associated with various downstream chronic conditions including cardiovascular diseases. The gut microbiome is complex and diverse in nature, making it difficult to generalize to specific populations or individual patients. Nevertheless, current evidence has found links between heart failure and alterations in microbial composition and function, since heart failure has long been associated with impaired intestinal barrier function and bacterial translocation leading to inflammatory and immune responses. Recent studies have also shed light on the contributions of gut microbiota-derived metabolites from dietary nutrients that can promote adverse effects in the setting of cardiorenal diseases. In this review, we will discuss the role of gut microbiome in the setting of heart failure and potential interventional approaches that may potentially lower the risk of disease progression in heart failure.