Potential role of\xa0intestinal microflora\xa0in disease progression among patients with different stages of Hepatitis B

Xiu-An Yang,Haochen Li,Xuemin Zhao,Yange Chang,Fang Yang,Zhishuo Mo,Fengchun Lv,Sixi Yang,Yiming Zhao,Ran Wang,Suting Li,Xinyu Cui

doi:10.1186/s13099-020-00391-4

Abstract

BackgroundIncreasing evidence demonstrate that the gut microbiota is involved in the pathogenesis of liver diseases, and faecal microbiota transplantation is considered to be a promising new treatment option. However, there are no reports on the intestinal flora of asymptomatic HBV carriers using next-generation sequencing. This study intends to investigate the potential role of the intestinal microflora in predicting the progression of Hepatitis B patients in different non-cancerous stages.ResultsA total of 266 patients with different stages of Hepatitis B and 31 healthy controls were included in this study. Some of the subjects (217 cases) underwent 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Compared with the control group (CK), the α diversity of patients in Group A (HBV carrier) slightly increased, while that of patients in the other three groups decreased. Each group of patients, especially those in Group C (cirrhosis) and Group D (acute-on-chronic liver failure), could be separated from the CK using weighted UniFrac PCoA and ANOSIM. LEfSe revealed that 40 taxa belonging to three phyla had an LDA larger than 4. In addition to the comparison between Group B (chronic Hepatitis B) and Group C, the specific flora and potential taxonomic function were also identified. Different microbial communities were found to be highly correlated with clinical indicators and the Child-Pugh scores. Changes in the microbial community were highly related to the alternations of host metabolism, which in turn, was related to the development of Hepatitis B. Our analysis identified a total of 47 strains with potential biomarker functions at all levels except for the phylum level.ConclusionsFaecal microbiota transplantation of some potential beneficial bacteria can change with the occurrence of disease, and HBV carriers might be the most suitable donors.

Highlights

Increasing evidence demonstrate that the gut microbiota is involved in the pathogenesis of liver diseases, and faecal microbiota transplantation is considered to be a promising new treatment option
Hepatitis B is caused by hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and can lead to acute and chronic liver diseases [1]
Consistent with previous studies, our result showed an association between the gut microbiota and Hepatitis B progression

Summary

Introduction

Increasing evidence demonstrate that the gut microbiota is involved in the pathogenesis of liver diseases, and faecal microbiota transplantation is considered to be a promising new treatment option. This study intends to investigate the potential role of the intestinal microflora in predicting the progression of Hepatitis B patients in different non-cancerous stages. Hepatitis B is caused by hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and can lead to acute and chronic liver diseases [1]. Patients with chronic Hepatitis B (CHB) often develop serious complications, such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HCC is the third leading cause of cancer death worldwide [2]. In China, 80% of all HCC diagnoses are attributed to Hepatitis B [3]. Even in the USA, the incidence rate of HCC has increased rapidly [4]. Hepatitis B is a global public health problem threatening human health

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