Gut microbiota in nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases with and without type-2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

The association between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is not very well described but gut microbiota composition is mentioned as a risk factor. The present study aimed to characterize the differences of dominant gut microbiota phyla among people with NAFLD as compared to T2DM and control groups.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The major bacterial phylum of gut microbiota including Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, and total bacteria of 15 NAFLD patients with T2DM, 15 NAFLD patients without T2DM, 15 patients with T2DM, and 20 healthy control subjects were assessed by a quantitative PCR (qPCR).

RESULTS

NAFLD patients with T2DM had significantly higher BMI, triglyceride level, and total cholesterol level were compared with controls (Pv < 0.05). Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes phyla were significantly low in NAFLD patients with T2DM (Firmicutes, 2.55 ± 2.25, Pv 0/0002 and Bacteroidetes, 1.55 ± 2.29, Pv 0/0007), while the content of Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria was high in NAFLD patients with T2DM group and there were no significant differences between phyla with NAFLD patients with T2DM group (Pv > 0.05). Furthermore, Firmicutes copy number was lower in the separate groups of NAFLD and T2DM as compared to the healthy controls (Pv < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

This study performed gut microbiota for the first time among NAFLD and TDM patients separately and together. This investigation indicated that NAFLD patients with T2DM have a different gut composition in comparison to NAFLD, T2DM alone, which could be associated with disease development.