Quantitative analysis of the three gut microbiota in UC and non-UC patients using real-time PCR.

BACKGROUND

and study aims: Gastrointestinal microbiota are closely related to the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis (UC). This study aimed at quantification of F. prausnitzii, Provetella, and Peptostreptococcus in UC and non-UC patients using Real-Time PCR and a new set of primers were also validated for this purpose.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this study, the relative abundance of microbial populations between the UC and non-UC subjects were evaluated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). DNA extraction from biopsies and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of bacterial 16S rRNA gene-targeted species-specific primers was performed to detect the anaerobic bacterial species. The qRT-PCR was used to show the relative change in the bacterial populations of F. prausnitzii, Provetella, and Peptostreptococcus in the UC and non-UC subjects.

RESULTS

Our data for detection of the anaerobic intestinal flora showed Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Provetella and Peptostreptococcus were the predominant microflora in the controls and showed significant differences (p = 0.002, 0.025 and 0.039, respectively). The qRT-PCR analyses of F. prausnitzii, Provetella and Peptostreptococcus were 8.69-, 9.38- and 5.77-higher, respectively, in the control group than in the UC group.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study showed decreased abundance of F. prausnitzii, Provetella and Peptostreptococcus in the intestine of UC patients in comparison to non-UC patients. Quantitative RT-PCR, as a progressive and sensitive method, could be useful for evaluation of bacterial populations in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases to attain appropriate therapeutic strategies.