Abstract
Background: The gut and biliary microbiota are important components of the complex microecology system in the human body. However, it is often difficult to obtain bile in clinical practice to manage gallstone diseases, warranting further microbiota research to evaluate the relationship between biliary microbiota and gallstone formation.
Aims: We aimed to characterize the diversity and alterations of biliary and gut microbiota in
patients with gallstones and analyze their possible correlations to gallstone formation.
Methods: We collected gallstones, bile, gallbladder mucosa, and feces from 21 patients with
gallstone disease during operation and fecal samples from 20 healthy subjects without gallstones.
We performed high-throughput sequencing of the V3-V4 regions of the 16S rRNA gene in the
gallstone and control groups and analyzed the final optimization sequence.
Results: We identified a total of 23,427 operational taxonomic units. Achromobacter (P = 0.010),
Faecalibacterium (P = 0.042), and Lachnospira (P = 0.011) were significantly reduced, while
Enterococcus (P = 0.001) was increased in the gallstone group. The diversity and composition
between the biliary and gut microbiota in gallstone patients had statistical differences. The
diversity of gut microbiota was significantly higher than that of biliary microbiota (P < 0.05). In
addition, linear discriminant analysis (LDA) >4 indicated that the characteristic flora was specific
to five samples. Prevotella and Proteobacteria had LDA values >4 in the feces and both bile and
gallbladder mucosa, respectively, of patients with gallstones.
Conclusion: The biliary and gut microbiota of patients with gallstones displayed bacterial
heterogeneity. Prevotella and Proteobacteria may serve as biomarkers for dysbacteriosis in
patients with gallstones, suggesting that alterations of biliary and gut microbiota are involved in
the formation of gallstones. This study highlights the potential application of fecal microbiota
transplantation technology in the treatment of gallstone diseases.
Relevance for Patients: Microecology of the digestive tract is closely related to the formation of
gallstones, providing new ideas for the prevention and treatment of patients with gallstones.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36922/jctr.23.00118
Author affiliation
1Department of Internal Medicine, International Medical Services, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
2Department of Hepatobiliary and Spleen Stomach, Henan Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, Henan, China
3Department of General Surgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
*Corresponding authors:
Peilin Cui
Department of Internal Medicine,
International Medical Services, Beijing
Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical
University, Beijing, China.
Email: cuipeilin@bjtth.org
Wei Yu
Department of General Surgery, Beijing
Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical
University, Beijing, China.
Email: yuweimade@sina.com
Qinsheng Zhang
Department of Hepatobiliary and Spleen
Stomach, Henan Provincial Hospital
of Traditional Chinese Medicine,
Zhengzhou, Henan, China.
Email: 80792825@qq.com
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