Microbial Disruptions in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Comparative Analysis.

OBJECTIVE

The fecal microbiota was studied in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and the characteristics of gut microbiota were compared among patients with different subtypes and stages of IBD, aiming to identify the gut microbiota associated with IBD.

METHODS

Fecal samples were collected from 41 IBD patients (18 patients with ulcerative colitis [UC] and 23 patients with Crohn's disease [CD]) in the Department of Gastroenterology of East China Hospital, Fudan University between January 2021 and January 2022. In addition, fecal samples were collected from 20 healthy volunteers. The fecal microbiota was subjected to 16S rRNA gene sequencing, followed by bioinformatics analysis.

RESULTS

There was significant difference in the fecal microbiota between IBD patients and controls. The abundance and diversity of fecal microbiota in the IBD patients were significantly lower than in controls. The relative abundance of and was reduced markedly in the IBD patients. As compared to controls, the relative abundance of increased dramatically in the UC patients. The relative abundance of and significantly increased in the CD patients. As compared to CD patients, the relative abundance of was reduced markedly in the UC patients; the relative abundance of and was reduced dramatically in the CD patients. In addition, significant difference was also noted in the fecal microflora between patients with active IBD and those with IBD in remission period. In active IBD patients, the relative abundance of and was reduced significantly.

CONCLUSION

There is intestinal microbiota imbalance in IBD patients, and the abundance of and is reduced significantly in the active period of IBD, which may be related to the active IBD.