Elucidation of Prebiotics, Probiotics, Postbiotics, and Target from Gut Microbiota to Alleviate Obesity via Network Pharmacology Study

source extracted confidence: high 2026-04-09
#butyrates #equol #gastrointestinal-microbiome #humans #interleukin-6

Elucidation of Prebiotics, Probiotics, Postbiotics, and Target from Gut Microbiota to Alleviate Obesity via Network Pharmacology Study

Oh et al., 2022 | Cells | Meta Analysis

Citation

Oh Ki-Kwang, Gupta Haripriya, ... Suk Ki-Tae. Elucidation of Prebiotics, Probiotics, Postbiotics, and Target from Gut Microbiota to Alleviate Obesity via Network Pharmacology Study. Cells. 2022-Sep-16;11(18). doi:10.3390/cells11182903

Abstract

The metabolites produced by the gut microbiota have been reported as crucial agents against obesity; however, their key targets have not been revealed completely in complex microbiome systems. Hence, the aim of this study was to decipher promising prebiotics, probiotics, postbiotics, and more importantly, key target(s) via a network pharmacology approach. First, we retrieved the metabolites related to gut microbes from the gutMGene database. Then, we performed a meta-analysis to identify metabolite-related targets via the similarity ensemble approach (SEA) and SwissTargetPrediction (STP), and obesity-related targets were identified by DisGeNET and OMIM databases. After selecting the overlapping targets, we adopted topological analysis to identify core targets against obesity. Furthermore, we employed the integrated networks to microbiota-substrate-metabolite-target (MSMT) via R Package. Finally, we performed a molecular docking test (MDT) to verify the binding affinity between metabolite(s) and target(s) with the Autodock 1.5.6 tool. Based on holistic viewpoints, we performed a filtering step to discover the core targets through topological analysis. Then, we implemented protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks with 342 overlapping target, another subnetwork was constructed with the top 30% degree centrality (DC), and the final core networks were obtained after screening the top 30% betweenness centrality (BC). The final core targets were IL6, AKT1, and ALB. We showed that the three core targets interacted with three other components via the MSMT network in alleviating obesity, i.e., four microbiota, two substrates, and six metabolites. The MDT confirmed that equol (postbiotics) converted from isoflavone (prebiotics) via Lactobacillus paracasei JS1 (probiotics) can bind the most stably on IL6 (target) compared with the other four metabolites (3-indolepropionic acid, trimethylamine oxide, butyrate, and acetate). In this study, we demonstrated that the promising substate (prebiotics), microbe (probiotics), metabolite (postbiotics), and target are suitable for obsesity treatment, providing a microbiome basis for further research.

Key Findings

In this study, we demonstrated that the promising substate (prebiotics), microbe (probiotics), metabolite (postbiotics), and target are suitable for obsesity treatment, providing a microbiome basis for further research.

Outcomes Measured

  • Requires manual extraction

Population

Field Value
Population See abstract
Sample Size See abstract
Age Range See abstract
Condition See abstract

MeSH Terms

  • Butyrates
  • Equol
  • Gastrointestinal Microbiome
  • Humans
  • Interleukin-6
  • Molecular Docking Simulation
  • Network Pharmacology
  • Obesity
  • Prebiotics
  • Probiotics

Evidence Classification

  • Level: Meta Analysis
  • Publication Types: Journal Article, Meta-Analysis, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Vertical: probiotics-obesity

Provenance

Source extracted via PubMed E-utilities API on 2026-04-09