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. 2022 Nov 10;17(11):e0277270.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0277270. eCollection 2022.

Characteristics of gut microbiota in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome in Northern China

Yuyuan Li  1 , Zhi Li  2 , Wenying Sun  2 , Meiling Wang  2 , Ming Li  3
Affiliations

Characteristics of gut microbiota in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome in Northern China

Yuyuan Li et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

This study analyzes and compares the structure and diversity of gut microbiota in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) in Northern China to healthy individuals to identify clinical features associated with dysbiosis. We included 60 Chinese pSS patients and 50 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. DNA was extracted from stool samples and subjected to 16S ribosomal RNA gene analysis (V3-V4) for intestinal dysbiosis. In addition, patients were examined for laboratory and serological pSS features. A Spearman's correlation analysis was performed to assess correlations between individual bacteria taxa and clinical characteristics. The alpha-diversity (Chao1 and Shannon Index) and beta-diversity (unweighted UniFrac distances) of the gut microbiota differed significantly between pSS patients and healthy controls. Further analysis showed that several gut opportunistic pathogens (Bacteroides, Megamonas, and Veillonella) were significantly more abundant in pSS patients and positively correlated with their clinical indicators. In contrast, some probiotic genera (Collinsella, unidentified_Ruminococcaceae, Romboutsia, and Dorea) were significantly decreased in pSS patients and negatively correlated with their clinical indicators. Therefore, pSS patients in Northern China showed a dysbiotic intestinal microbiome enriched for potentially pathogenic genera that might be associated with autoimmune disease.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Comparison of gut microbial diversity in the pSS and control groups.
(A) Venn diagram showing the overlap of gut microbiota between pSS and control groups. (B) Chao1 richness index. (C) Shannon diversity index. (D) PCoA plots based on unweighted Unifrac distances between the pSS and control groups. Key: blue dots, control group; green dots, pSS group; *, P<0.05.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Composition of gut microbiota in pSS and control groups.
(A) Phylum level. (B) Family level. (C) Genus level.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Abundances of gut microbiota in pSS and control groups.
(A) Family level. (B) Genus level.
Fig 4
Fig 4. LDA effect size analysis.
(A) Cladogram indicating the phylogenetic distribution of differential gut microbiota between the pSS and control groups. (B) The differential gut microbiota with an LDA Score >4 between pSS and control groups.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Heatmap of Spearman’s correlations between intestinal microbiota composition and clinical characteristics.
Key: Red, the highest score (correlation); blue, the lowest score (correlation); *, P<0.05; **, P<0.01.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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