Enriched and Decreased Intestinal Microbes in Active VKH Patients

Abstract

Purpose To determine the possible microbiome related to Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada (VKH) disease in comparison to patients with noninfectious anterior scleritis and healthy people. Methods Fecal samples were extracted from 42 individuals, including 11 patients with active VKH, 11 healthy people, and 20 patients with noninfectious anterior scleritis. We amplified the V3 to V4 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) region to obtain the target sequence. Then, the target sequence was amplified by polymerase chain reaction. The obtained target sequences were sequenced by high-throughput 16S rDNA analysis. Results At the genus level, there were three enriched ( Stomatobaculum , Pseudomonas , Lachnoanaerobaculum ) and two depleted ( Gordonibacter , Slackia ) microbes that were detected only in patients with VKH. There were 10 enriched and 12 depleted microbes that were observed in both patients with VKH disease and noninfectious anterior scleritis ( P < 0.05). The interactions of these microbes were graphed. Tyzzerella and Eggerthella were the nodes of interaction between these microorganisms, which were regulated by both positive and negative aspects, but the expression level in patients with active VKH was upregulated. Conclusions Special or nonspecial enrichment and decreased intestinal microbes were observed in patients with active VKH. The action mechanism of these microbes needs further study.

Comparison of Intestinal Microbes in Noninfectious Anterior Scleritis Patients With and Without Rheumatoid Arthritis

“…The changes in both the G and GY groups were significant compared with those in the N group, but the Eggerthella content was higher and the Lachnospiraceae_ND3007_group content lower in the GY group than in the G group. Interestingly, these two microbes also exhibited similar changes between patients with active VKH and patients with scleritis ( Li et al, 2022 ). This result suggests that these two microbes may be nonspecifically involved in various immune-related eye diseases.…”

“…Previous studies have shown that a decrease in SCFA levels is closely related to the pathogenesis of RA ( Yang and Cong, 2021 ). Odoribacter ( Turna et al, 2020 ), Roseburia ( Tamanai-Shacoori et al, 2017 ), and Ruminiclostridium_9 ( Hsiao et al, 2021 ) are butyrate producers (butyrate is a type of SCFA); Ruminococcaceae ( Kang et al, 2017 ) and Eubacterium ( Li et al, 2022 ) are short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) producers. In our patients, the abundances of all these microbes were decreased, as was SCFA production.…”

“…Lachnospiraceae is an SCFA producer, and the decreased abundance of Lachnospiraceae_ND3007_group may have decreased SCFA production ( Kang et al, 2017 ). Eggerthella enrichment might induce inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 ( Li et al, 2022 ). An increase in Eggerthella and a decrease in Lachnospiraceae have also been found in other immune-mediated diseases, including Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada (VKH; Li et al, 2022 ) Crohn’s disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC) and multiple sclerosis (MS; Forbes et al, 2018 ).…”

“…The extracted DNA was sent to Beijing Aoweisen Gene Technology Co., Ltd. (Beijing, China). We referred to previously reported experimental methods to amplify the target gene ( Li et al, 2022 ), as follows. We detected the DNA using the Illumina MiSeq PE300 platform (Santiago, CA, United States) and used the universal primers 338F (5-ACTCCTACGGGAGGCAGCAG-3) and 806R (5-GGACTACNNGGG TATCTAAT-3) to amplify the V3 to V4 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) region.…”

“…We used previously reported experimental methods to analyze the sequence ( Li et al, 2022 ) as follows. Paired-end sequencing of the target sequence was performed using the Illumina MiSeq platform, and QIIME (Professor Gregory Caporaso, Flagstaff, United States; version 1.8.0) was used to filter, split, and remove chimeras.…”