Multimodal Artificial Intelligence for Microbiome-Informed Precision Cardiovascular Medicine
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Microbial metabolism, intestinal barrier function, and immune signaling link the gut microbiota to vascular and cardiac disease. The clinical significance of these signals nevertheless varies across disease phenotypes and is influenced by host genetics, diet, medication, and kidney function. Multimodal artificial intelligence (AI) offers methods to examine these relationships by integrating microbial and host information. In this review, we synthesize the biological evidence and assess how multimodal analysis can support microbiome-informed precision cardiovascular medicine. We distinguish the gut–vascular and gut–heart axes and evaluate approaches that combine microbiome profiles, host genomics, and metabolomics with cardiovascular imaging and longitudinal clinical data to prioritize candidate mechanisms, identify disease endotypes and assess risk. We compare fusion strategies and examine AI applications in microbial functional prediction and disease classification, distinguishing these from mechanistic and statistical integration. Causal confidence and biomarker maturity are considered separately to clarify the evidence needed for mechanistic claims, risk prediction, and targeted intervention. Current evidence is stronger for biological discovery than for AI-guided cardiovascular care. Clinical translation requires control of confounding, comparison with clinical and unimodal models, external validation, and prospective assessment of clinical utility. The immediate priority is to identify reproducible cardiovascular endotypes and candidate microbial targets for intervention studies.
Source: Cardiac Research
Institutions: Zhengzhou University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Tongji Hospital, Beijing Tsinghua Chang Gung Hospital, Tsinghua University, First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Nankai University, University of Liverpool, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin Medical University, Liverpool John Moores University, Nanjing University, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Chinese PLA General Hospital
Language: English
Topic: Gut microbiota and health
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7225256893
FWCI:
Cites:
Cited by:
Related to: