Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis experience profound alterations in their gut microbiota, leading to dysbiosis and increased gut permeability. This disruption facilitates the translocation of endotoxins and gut-derived uremic toxins such as indoxyl sulfate and p-cresyl sulfate into the systemic circulation, contributing to heightened systemic inflammation, cardiovascular disease risk, and accelerated CKD progression.
Synbiotic supplementation, particularly multispecies formulations, has emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy to restore gut microbial balance, enhance intestinal barrier integrity, and reduce the systemic burden of deleterious microbial metabolites. These probiotics potentially improve clinical outcomes by modulating inflammatory pathways and decreasing circulating levels of uremic toxins.
Despite these insights, few clinical trials have comprehensively assessed the effects of multispecies synbiotic on fecal microbiome composition, gut permeability and uremic toxin profiles in hemodialysis patients. This pilot study aims to fill this gap by evaluating the modulatory effects of a 12-week multispecies synbiotic intervention.
Adults aged 18 years or older receiving maintenance hemodialysis patients for at least 3 months
Use of probiotic supplements within the last month;
Hospitalization within the past month for acute infections or CKD-related complications;
History of major intestinal surgeries (gastrectomy, cholecystectomy; appendectomy allowed);
Presence of viral hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, active malignancy, advanced congestive heart failure, or thyroid disorders;
Single group
Multispecies Synbiotic Supplementation
Dietary supplementParticipants will receive Renobiome multispecies synbiotic containing 30 billion CFUs per capsule, including strains of Lactobacillus rhamnosus (strain ID pending), Lactobacillus salivarius LS 159, Lactobacillus pentosus LPE 588, and Lactococcus lactis LL 358. • Dose: One capsule twice daily (morning and evening), with or without food, taken with room-temperature water. • Storage: Capsules to be kept below 25°C, in a dry, light-protected environment.
Evaluate changes in fecal microbiomes
This study employed \*\*whole genome sequencing (WGS)\*\* for fecal microbial analysis.Alpha diversity is estimated by species richness using the Chao1 index at the OTU level. A rarefaction curve is generated by randomly selecting a subset of sequencing data from each sample to represent the number of observed species, and a species accumulation curve is plotted to show the occurrence of new OTUs (species) with continuous sampling. For beta diversity, Bray-Curtis dissimilarities at the OTU level are calculated and analyzed using the vegan package. Differential abundance analysis was performed using statistical methods appropriate for compositional microbiome and functional gene data (such as LEfSe, ANCOM-BC, ALDEx2, MaAsLin2, or DESeq2). Multiple hypothesis testing was adjusted using the Benjamini-Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR) correction.
Assess the serum levels of uremic toxins
Concentrations of indoxyl sulfate (IS), p-cresyl sulfate (PCS), indole acetic acid (IAA), and indolelactic acid (ILA) in serum and urine will be determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) according to established protocols.
Assess the serum levels of and gut permeability markers
Quantification of gut permeability markers, such as intestinal fatty acid-binding protein (I-FABP), diamine oxidase (DAO), and zonulin concentrations, using validated ELISA kits.
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