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Gut microbiota differs between children with Inflammatory Bowel Disease and healthy siblings in taxonomic and functional composition - a metagenomic analysis

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AJP Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology

Published online on

Abstract

Current treatment for pediatric IBD patients is often ineffective, with serious side effects. Manipulating the gut microbiota via fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is an emerging treatment approach but remains controversial. We aimed to assess the composition of the fecal microbiome through a comparison of pediatric IBD patients to their healthy siblings, evaluating risks and prospects for FMT in this setting. A Case-Control (Sibling) Study was conducted analyzing fecal samples of six children with Crohn's Disease (CD), six children with Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and 12 healthy siblings by metagenomic sequencing. In addition, lifetime antibiotic intake was retrospectively determined. Species richness and diversity were significantly reduced in UC patients compared to control (MWU FDR = 0.011). In UC, bacteria positively influencing gut homeostasis e.g. Eubacterium rectale and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii were significantly reduced in abundance (MWU FDR = 0.05). Known pathobionts like Escherichia coli were enriched in UC patients (MWU FDR = 0.084). Moreover, E. coli abundance correlated positively with that of several virulence genes (SCC > 0.65, FDR < 0.1). A shift towards antibiotic resistant taxa in both IBD groups distinguished them from controls (MWU BY FDR = 0.062 in UC, MWU BY FDR = 0.019 in CD). The collected results confirm a microbial dysbiosis in pediatric UC, and to a lesser extent in CD patients, replicating associations found previously using different methods. Taken together, these observations suggest microbiotal remodeling therapy from family donors, at least for children with UC, as a viable option.