Blueberry malvidin-3-galactoside modulated gut microbial dysbiosis and microbial TCA cycle KEGG pathway disrupted in a liver cancer model induced by HepG2 cells

HCC (Hepatocellular Carcinoma) is a critical health issue worldwide. Our previous animal experimenthas confirmed that blueberry malvidin-3-galactoside (M3G) can regulate the progression of HCC. In thisstudy, feces samples from the same batch of mice were collected to explore the regulatory mechanism ofM3G on intestinal microbiota and microbial TCA cycle metabolism KEGG pathway in HCC mice based on16S rRNA sequencing and metagenomics. Our results showed that blueberry M3G increased the microbialdiversity and regulated the structure of intestinal microbiota in mice, such as increasing the abundance ofClostridia (butyric acid-producing bacteria), Oscillospira and Ruminococcus, and reducing the abundanceof pathogenic Erysipelotrichi. Compared with the group of liver cancer and 5-fluorouracil, blueberry M3Gsignificantly regulated microbial TCA cycle KEGG pathway via improving the expression of key proteins(porA, DLAT, aceE, PC and OGDH). Additionally, we found which the abundance of Muribaculum intesti-nale increased by blueberry M3G may be an important factor affecting the microbial TCA cycle KEGGpathway via the pearson correlation (R) analysis of protein and microbiota. Taken together, these resultsdemonstrate that the blueberry M3G has the potential to be an intestinal microbiota regulator and anadjuvant to HCC therapy. (c) 2020 Society information. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAiCommunications Co., Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)