CONSORT-Characteristics and metabolic phenotype of gut microbiota in NAFLD patients

Abstract

Patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) have symptoms of a gut microbiota disorder with abnormal amino acid and glycolipid metabolism. This study was designed to analyze the characteristics of gut microbiota in patients with NAFLD, predict the gut microbiota phenotype, explore its role in the diagnosis of NAFLD, and establish its significance in disease progression. The characteristics of the gut microbiota in NAFLD patients (n = 28, 45.8 ± 14.2 years, male/female = 18/10) and healthy subjects (n = 20, 49.6 ± 4.8 years, male/female = 14/6) during March–May 2020 were analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing technology and the phenotypes with large differences were predicted using the Tax4Fun method. The metabolites in the fecal samples of the patients were analyzed using mass spectrometry, and their correlation with different microorganisms was examined. The accuracy of the gut microbiota in diagnosing NAFLD was investigated by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. We found that the microbial diversity and Bacteroides/Firmicutes (BF) ratio changed significantly ( P < .05) in the feces of NAFLD patients. Phenotypic prediction showed that there were significant differences in the phenotypes of amino acid, glucose, and lipid metabolism of gut microbiota in the NAFLD group ( P < .05). receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that combination of Bacteroides and the BF ratio resulted in 88% and 100% sensitivity and specificity, respectively, when used for NAFLD diagnosis. Metabolomics and bioinformatics analysis revealed changes in the metabolism of nicotinate, nicotinamide, and pyrimidine; signaling pathways of calcium and oxytocin; pancreatic secretion with metabolites such as uracil, xanthine, and biliverdin; and enzymes such as xanthine dehydrogenase and xanthine oxidase ( P < .05). Therefore, the phenotypic changes may be a potential marker for NAFLD and we considered that a combined analysis of Bacteroides and BF ratio had good diagnostic accuracy for NAFLD.

Fecal Metagenomics and Metabolomics Identifying Microbial Signatures in Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

“…Ge and co-workers have studied fecal metabolomics in patients with NAFLD and healthy controls using UHPLC/MS/MS [53]. All participants were overweight and/or had visceral obesity.…”

“…Interestingly, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD + ) is being studied in clinical trials as a potential target to treat NAFLD [54]. However, Ge et al failed to show differences in the fecal levels of nicotinate between the healthy and NAFLD groups [53]. Altered pyrimidine metabolism was reflected in lower fecal levels of uracil in the NAFLD patients.…”

“…In addition, the catabolic byproduct of purine metabolism, xanthine was also lower likely due to the lower enzymatic activity of xanthine oxidase. The authors concluded that xanthine together with the abundance of specific microbial taxa might serve in the diagnostics of NAFLD [53]. Intriguingly, it has been shown that inhibition of xanthine oxidase can ameliorate hepatic steatosis in mice [55].…”

Composition of gut microbiota and non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…A total of 38 studies [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]33,35,36,[38][39][40][41][44][45][46]48,49,[51][52][53]56,[58][59][60][61][62][64][65][66][68][69][70][71]74,75,78,79,82,84 provided data for α-diversity (Table 1), which was then assessed using eight indices, namely richness/evenness (Shannon T A B L E 2 Total analysis, stratified analysis, and sensitivity analysis among alpha diversity.…”

Effects of Maternal Gut Microbiota-Targeted Therapy on the Programming of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Dams and Fetuses, Related to a Prenatal High-Fat Diet

“…Many studies have shown an association between gut dysbiosis and metabolic syndrome, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and NAFLD [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. Ge et al showed that adult patients with NAFLD demonstrated lower diversity and a Firmicutes/Bacteroides (F/B) ratio than the controls [ 20 ]. Chierico et al found an increased abundance of Bradyrhizobium, Anaerococcus, Peptoniphilus, Propionibacterium acnes, Dorea , and Ruminococcus , and a decreased abundance of Rikenellaceae and Oscillospira in the gut microbiome of children with NAFLD [ 16 ].…”