ArticleJournal of gastroenterology and hepatology2022
Gut microbiota-derived synbiotic formula (SIM01) as a novel adjuvant therapy for COVID-19: An open-label pilot study.
Article in Journal of gastroenterology and hepatology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07206303 (The Effects of Bifidobacterium-based Probiotics in Reducing Blood Pressure in Middle-aged Chinese With Hypertension), which is not on this map. Cited by 38 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
The Effects of Bifidobacterium-based Probiotics in Reducing Blood Pressure in Middle-aged Chinese With Hypertension: a Single-term Feasibility Pilot Study
Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 67 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trial
- Towards optimizing the host response to biotics: a report of an International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics working group.Gut microbes · 2026Article
- Impact of nutrition on long COVID.Sports medicine and health science · 2026Review
- Long COVID and gut microbiome: insights into pathogenesis and therapeutics.Gut microbes · 2025Review
- An overview of clinical presentation and management of long COVID.The Nurse practitioner · 2025Review
- The resident gut microbiome modulates the effect of synbiotics on the immunogenicity after SARS-COV-2 vaccination in elderly and diabetes patients.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025Article
- Review
- Chronic inflammation in post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 modulates gut microbiome: a review of literature on COVID-19 sequelae and gut dysbiosis.Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Review
- The "crossover effect" of COVID-19 in pregnancy on the infant microbiome.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Role of gut microbiome in pathogenesis and treatment of diseases: Multidisciplinary experts' opinion of the Asian Medical Experts Academy (AMEA).Gut microbes reports · 2025Review
- Partially hydrolyzed guar gum attenuates symptoms and modulates the gut microbiota in a model of SARS-CoV-2 infection.Gut microbiome (Cambridge, England) · 2025Article
- Human microbiome in post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (PACS).Current research in microbial sciences · 2025Article
- The dynamic crosslinking between gut microbiota and inflammation during aging: reviewing the nutritional and hormetic approaches against dysbiosis and inflammaging.Biogerontology · 2024Review
- Postacute Sequelae of COVID (PASC or Long COVID): An Evidenced-Based Approach.Open forum infectious diseases · 2024Review
- The Microbiota in Long COVID.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Gut Microbiome Disruption Following SARS-CoV-2: A Review.Microorganisms · 2024Review
- Advance in the mechanism and clinical research of myalgia in long COVID.American journal of clinical and experimental immunology · 2024Review
- Gut microbiota in post-acute COVID-19 syndrome: not the end of the story.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Review
- The long-term health outcomes, pathophysiological mechanisms and multidisciplinary management of long COVID.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2023Review
- The association between macronutrient intakes and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in an Iranian population: applying a dynamical system model.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimGut dysbiosis is associated with immune dysfunction and severity of COVID-19. Whether targeting dysbiosis will improve outcomes of COVID-19 is unknown. This study aimed to assess the effects of a novel gut microbiota-derived synbiotic formula (SIM01) as an adjuvant therapy on immunological responses and changes in gut microbiota of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
methodsThis was an open-label, proof-of-concept study. Consecutive COVID-19 patients admitted to an infectious disease referral center in Hong Kong were given a novel formula of Bifidobacteria strains, galactooligosaccharides, xylooligosaccharide, and resistant dextrin (SIM01). The latter was derived from metagenomic databases of COVID-19 patients and healthy population. COVID-19 patients who were admitted under another independent infectious disease team during the same period without receiving SIM01 acted as controls. All patients received standard treatments for COVID-19 according to the hospital protocol. We assessed antibody response, plasma proinflammatory markers, nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral load, and fecal microbiota profile from admission up to week 5.
resultsTwenty-five consecutive COVID-19 patients received SIM01 for 28 days; 30 patients who did not receive the formula acted as controls. Significantly more patients receiving SIM01 than controls developed SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody (88% vs 63.3%; P = 0.037) by Day 16. One (4%) and 8 patients (26.7%) in the SIM01 and control group, respectively, failed to develop positive IgG antibody upon discharge. At week 5, plasma levels of interleukin (IL)-6, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), and IL-1RA reduced significantly in the SIM01 but not in the control group. There was a significant negative correlation of nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral load and SIM01 intervention. Metagenomic analysis showed that bacterial species in SIM01 formula were found in greater abundance leading to enrichment of commensal bacteria and suppression of opportunistic pathogens in COVID-19 patients by week 4 and week 5.
conclusionsThis proof-of-concept study suggested that the use of a novel gut microbiota-derived synbiotic formula, SIM01, hastened antibody formation against SARS-CoV-2, reduced nasopharyngeal viral load, reduced pro-inflammatory immune markers, and restored gut dysbiosis in hospitalised COVID-19 patients.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.