The intestinal microbiome and kidney stones
The goal of our studies is to provide new insights into the pathogenesis of stone formation that eventually will lead to the development of new treatment and/or prevention strategies. We will leverage the resources of the Nurses' Health Study II (NHS II), an ongoing cohort study with decades of follow-up and rich dietary, lifestyle, and biorepository data, to conduct the first large-scale population-based study of the intestinal microbiome and kidney stones. We will use stool samples from NHS II to define the intestinal microbial taxonomic and metagenomic functional ecologies in individuals with nephrolithiasis, independent of diet and body size. We also will examine associations between the intestinal microbiome and 24-hour urine composition.