The Role of Probiotics in Purine Metabolism, Hyperuricemia and Gout: Mechanisms and Interventions

ABSTRACT

Hyperuricemia and gout are metabolic diseases characterized with high serum urate and impact human health significantly. Although some drugs have been developed to treat gout, hyperuricemia represents a substantial health problem. Reducing purine absorption through intestinal microbiota, which can be managed through intake of probiotics, emerges as a promising way to reverse elevated serum urate. Probiotics have shown several benefits such as immune modulation and improvement of intestinal functions. Therefore, this review briefly summarizes purine metabolism and molecular mechanisms for hyperuricemia and gout with the focus on recent development on the use of probiotics to alleviate hyperuricemia and gout.

KEYWORDS:

• Gout
• hyperuricemia
• probiotics
• purines
• urate
• xanthine oxidase

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge Dr. Ying Chen for reviewing the manuscript.

Declaration of interest

Authors have no competing interests.

Ethical statement

This is a review article. It has neither involved experimental animal nor human subjects.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [31972127] and the Science and Technology Program of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission [KZ201910011013].