Occurrence of Blastocystis in Patients with Clostridioides difficile Infection

Vega, Laura; Herrera, Giovanny; Muñoz, Marina; Patarroyo, Manuel A.; Ramírez, Juan David

doi:10.3390/pathogens9040283

Cited by 14 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Blastocystis ST4 colonization in rats can increase the relative abundance of Oscillospira and decrease the level of Clostridium , which is linked to lower amounts of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) [ 45 ]. In addition, Vega and colleagues showed a significant association between the presence of Blastocystis and Clostridium difficile infection in diarrhea patients [ 46 ]. Overall, although these studies reported that the presence of Blastocystis can reduce the abundance of beneficial bacteria, leading to a dysbiotic state, the etiological role of Blastocystis in the development of gastrointestinal diseases, especially IBS, needs further investigation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New insights into the interactions between Blastocystis, the gut microbiota, and host immunity

et al. 2021

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The human gut microbiota is a diverse and complex ecosystem that is involved in beneficial physiological functions as well as disease pathogenesis. Blastocystis is a common protistan parasite and is increasingly recognized as an important component of the gut microbiota. The correlations between Blastocystis and other communities of intestinal microbiota have been investigated, and, to a lesser extent, the role of this parasite in maintaining the host immunological homeostasis. Despite recent studies suggesting that Blastocystis decreases the abundance of beneficial bacteria, most reports indicate that Blastocystis is a common component of the healthy gut microbiome. This review covers recent finding on the potential interactions between Blastocystis and the gut microbiota communities and its roles in regulating host immune responses.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New insights into the interactions between Blastocystis, the gut microbiota, and host immunity

et al. 2021

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“…The role of eukaryotes in the development of CDI has been addressed in only a few investigations in which the involvement of fungi was emphasized 13 , 14 . Among the main findings was an increase in the relative abundance of fungi of the genus Penicillium in patients with CDI compared with patients without CDI 15 , as well as a relationship between C. albicans and failures in fecal transplant treatment 16 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among the main findings was an increase in the relative abundance of fungi of the genus Penicillium in patients with CDI compared with patients without CDI 15 , as well as a relationship between C. albicans and failures in fecal transplant treatment 16 . Recent studies have shown the co-occurrence of C. difficile and Blastocystis 14 . However, the impact of this eukaryote on intestinal microbiota in relation to CDI has not been clarified.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gut microbiota composition in health-care facility-and community-onset diarrheic patients with Clostridioides difficile infection

Herrera

Vega

Patarroyo

et al. 2021

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The role of gut microbiota in the establishment and development of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) has been widely discussed. Studies showed the impact of CDI on bacterial communities and the importance of some genera and species in recovering from and preventing infection. However, most studies have overlooked important components of the intestinal ecosystem, such as eukaryotes and archaea. We investigated the bacterial, archaea, and eukaryotic intestinal microbiota of patients with health-care-facility- or community-onset (HCFO and CO, respectively) diarrhea who were positive or negative for CDI. The CDI-positive groups (CO/+, HCFO/+) showed an increase in microorganisms belonging to Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Ascomycota, and Opalinata compared with the CDI-negative groups (CO/−, HCFO/−). Patients with intrahospital-acquired diarrhea (HCFO/+, HCFO/−) showed a marked decrease in bacteria beneficial to the intestine, and there was evidence of increased Archaea and Candida and Malassezia species compared with the CO groups (CO/+, CO/−). Characteristic microbiota biomarkers were established for each group. Finally, correlations between bacteria and eukaryotes indicated interactions among the different kingdoms making up the intestinal ecosystem. We showed the impact of CDI on microbiota and how it varies with where the infection is acquired, being intrahospital-acquired diarrhea one of the most influential factors in the modulation of bacterial, archaea, and eukaryotic populations. We also highlight interactions between the different kingdoms of the intestinal ecosystem, which need to be evaluated to improve our understanding of CDI pathophysiology.

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“…The coexistence of Blastocystis and C . difficile has only been reported once [ 24 ], and therefore it is interesting to know the bacterial and eukaryotic communities that can be found under this scenario, given that colonization by Blastocystis is not usually reported in scenarios of decrease of beneficial bacteria as under CDI [ 7 ]. Additionally, few studies have focused on the description of the intestinal eukaryotic communities in certain states of the host’s health.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To date, the co-occurrence of Blastocystis and C . difficile has been reported in a single study worldwide [ 24 ], which is interesting given that this scenario should not occur due to the alterations that CDI generates on bacterial communities and that can prevent the colonization of Blastocystis , as explained above.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Gut microbiota profiles in diarrheic patients with co-occurrence of Clostridioides difficile and Blastocystis

et al. 2021

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Blastocystis and Clostridioides difficile co-occurrence is considered a rare event since the colonization by Blastocystis is prevented under a decrease in beneficial bacteria in the microbiota when there is C. difficile infection (CDI). This scenario has been reported once, but no information on the gut microbiota profiling is available. The present study is motivated by knowing which members of the microbiota can be found in this rare scenario and how this co-occurrence may impact the abundance of other bacteria, eukaryotes or archaea present in the gut microbiota. This study aimed to describe the bacterial and eukaryotic communities using amplicon-based sequencing of the 16S- and 18S-rRNA regions of three patient groups: (1) Blastocystis and C. difficile infection (B+/C+, n = 31), (2) C. difficile infection only (B˗/C+, n = 44), and (3) without Blastocystis or C. difficile (B˗/C˗, n = 40). Blastocystis was subtyped using amplicon-based sequencing of the 18S-rRNA gene, revealing circulation of subtypes ST1 (43.4%), ST3 (35.85%) and ST5 (20.75%) among the study population. We found that B+/C+ patients had a higher abundance of some beneficial bacteria (such as butyrate producers or bacteria with anti-inflammatory properties) compared with non-Blastocystis-colonized patients, which may suggest a shift towards an increase in beneficial bacteria when Blastocystis colonizes patients with CDI. Regarding eukaryotic communities, statistical differences in the abundance of some eukaryotic genera between the study groups were not observed. Thus, this study provides preliminary descriptive information of a potential microbiota profiling of differential presence by Blastocystis and C. difficile.

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Occurrence of Blastocystis in Patients with Clostridioides difficile Infection

Cited by 14 publications

References 36 publications

New insights into the interactions between Blastocystis, the gut microbiota, and host immunity

New insights into the interactions between Blastocystis, the gut microbiota, and host immunity

Gut microbiota composition in health-care facility-and community-onset diarrheic patients with Clostridioides difficile infection

Gut microbiota profiles in diarrheic patients with co-occurrence of Clostridioides difficile and Blastocystis

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