Study on the imbalance of gut microbiota, microbiota, and cytokine networks in infertile patients with positive thyroid antibodies
Infertility remains a major clinical challenge with a significant number of cases classified as unexplained, indicating a critical need to explore novel physiological mechanisms beyond traditional factors. Thyroid autoimmunity (TAI), defined by the presence of antibodies like TPOAb and TgAb in euthyroid individuals, is a recognized risk factor for poor reproductive outcomes, yet the underlying pathways connecting immune dysregulation to impaired fertility are not fully understood. Concurrently, the gut microbiota is now acknowledged as a central regulator of systemic immunity, and its disruption (dysbiosis) is implicated in various autoimmune conditions, potentially through mechanisms involving barrier integrity, bacterial translocation, and chronic inflammation. This study proposes that the link between TAI and infertility may be mediated by an altered gut microbiome that disrupts cytokine networks, creating a hostile environment for conception. Our primary aim is to characterize the gut microbiota composition and profile circulating cytokine levels in infertile patients with positive thyroid antibodies, comparing them to control groups to identify specific microbial and inflammatory signatures. The relevance of this work lies in its potential to uncover a novel gut-immune-reproductive axis, thereby providing a mechanistic explanation for the observed clinical associations and opening new avenues for diagnostic and therapeutic strategies, such as microbiota-targeted interventions, to improve fertility outcomes in this patient population.