Journal
JOURNAL OF VIRAL HEPATITIS
Volume 27, Issue 11, Pages 1243-1252Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/jvh.13344
Keywords
acute hepatitis E; acute liver failure; exacerbation; faecal microbiota; T helper (Th) lymphocytes
Funding
- National Science and Technology Major Project for Infectious Diseases of China [2012ZX10002004]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Fulminant hepatitis E may lead to acute liver failure (ALF). Perturbations of intestinal microbiota are related to severe liver disease. To study the correlations between faecal microbiota and the occurrence and exacerbation of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection, we characterized 24 faecal samples from 12 patients with acute hepatitis E (AHE) and 12 patients with HEV-ALF using high-throughput sequencing. We found both the alpha and beta diversity indices showed no significant differences between the AHE and HEV-ALF groups. Several predominant taxa were significantly different between the AHE and HEV-ALF groups. Most notably, the HEV-ALF group had increased levels ofGammaproteobacteria,Proteobacteria,XanthomonadceaeandStenotrophomonas, but reduced levels ofFirmicutes,Streptococcus,SubdoligranulumandLactobacillus, compared with the AHE group. The levels ofLactobacillaceaeandGammaproteobacteriacould be used to distinguish patients with HEV-ALF from those with AHE. In addition, the level of Th lymphocytes was significantly lower in the HEV-ALF group than in the AHE group. The relative abundances ofLactobacillaceaeandGammaproteobacteriawere positively correlated with Th lymphocytes, serum international normalized ratio (INR) and hepatic encephalopathy severity. Moreover, surviving patients had higher levels ofLactobacillus mucosaethan deceased patients. Our study demonstrated that the presence of altered faecal microbiota is associated with exacerbation of HEV infection; this finding may be useful for exploring the interactions among faecal microbiota, immune responses, mechanisms of infection and progression in patients with HEV, as well as for the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available