Abstract
Gut microbiota dysbiosis is closely associated with ulcerative colitis (UC). Prebiotic therapy is a potential approach for UC management especially remission maintaining. Xylo-oligosaccharide (XOS) is an efficient prebiotic with proven health benefits and few side effects. However, the effects of XOS on the gut microbiota of patients with UC have not been investigated previously. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prebiotic effects of XOS on the fecal microbiota of patients with UC in clinical remission using an in vitro fermentation model. Five patients with UC in clinical remission and five healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study. Fresh fecal samples of UC patients were diluted and inoculated in yeast extract, casitone and fatty acid (YCFA) medium alone or with XOS. After fermentation for 48 h, samples were collected for 16S rDNA sequencing to investigate the gut microbiota composition. Differences in the gut microbiota between healthy volunteers and UC patients in clinical remission were detected using original fecal samples. Subsequently, the differences between the YCFA medium alone or with XOS samples were analyzed to illustrate the effects of XOS on the gut microbiota of UC patients. In both principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and principal component analysis (PCA), the fecal samples of UC patients differed from those of healthy volunteers. Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) analysis revealed that the relative abundances of g_Roseburia and g_Lachnospiraceae_ND3007_group were higher in healthy volunteers than in UC patients, while o_Lactobacillales abundance showed the opposite trend (P < 0.05). Wilcoxon rank-sum test bar plot showed that the abundances of g_Eubacterium_halli_group and g_Lachnospiraceae_ND3007_group were higher in the healthy volunteers than in the UC patients (P < 0.05). In addition, in UC patients, the Wilcoxon rank-sum test showed that XOS fermentation promoted the growth of bacterial groups including g_Roseburia, g_Bifidobacterium, and g_Lactobacillus, which is beneficial for recovery of intestinal diseases. These results suggest that XOS can relieve dysbiosis in the feces of UC patients in clinical remission and thus represent a potential prebiotic material for maintaining remission.
Highlights
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic disease involving recurrent colonic inflammation causing damage to the mucosa or submucosa of colon, and the occurrence of ulcerative colitis (UC) is increasing globally [1]
We found that all four indexes in patients with UC in remission were lower than those in healthy volunteers, but these differences were not significant (Figure 2)
Increasing evidence has shown that gut microbiota dysbiosis plays an important role in UC development and progression [2]
Summary
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic disease involving recurrent colonic inflammation causing damage to the mucosa or submucosa of colon, and the occurrence of UC is increasing globally [1]. The treatments for UC include controlling the active inflammation and maintaining remission by using amino salicylates, antibiotics, corticosteroids and immunomodulatory drugs. These therapies were more likely to bring long-term side effects especially in maintaining remission due to lack of low side effect drugs for long-term use [3]. Many clinical trials have been carried out to assess the effects of administering prebiotics such as fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS) for UC treatment and limited benefits have been shown [6, 7]. A review showed that the use of traditional prebiotics including FOS and inulin may be useful especially in IBD patients with low clinical activity of the disease or to maintain remission [8]. Patient selection for clinical trials is important to the research
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