Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Feb 14;24(1):117.
doi: 10.1186/s12887-024-04582-9.

Alterations of gut microbiota in infants with biliary atresia identified by 16S rRNA-sequencing

Fei Liu  1 , Ru Wei  2 , Xiaogang Xu  1 , Menglong Lan  1 , Boyuan Tao  1 , Zijian Liang  1 , Jixiao Zeng  3
Affiliations

Alterations of gut microbiota in infants with biliary atresia identified by 16S rRNA-sequencing

Fei Liu et al. BMC Pediatr. .

Abstract

Background: Biliary atresia (BA) is a severe neonatal disease with progressive intra- and extra-hepatic bile ducts inflammation and hepatic fibrosis. Characterization of gut microbiome profiles in infants with biliary atresia can provide valuable information and potential disease biomarkers. Our study aims to explore the relationship between gut microbiota and biliary atresia.

Methods: 16 S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing was carried out to identify the differences in composition and diversity of gut microbiota between infants with BA and healthy subjects. A total of 31 infants with biliary atresia and 20 healthy subjects were recruited.

Results: The composition of gut microbiota in BA group was significantly different with the normal control group (P < 0.05) and the abundance ratio of Klebsiella/Bifidobacterium showed great potential for identification of BA (P < 0.01). In addition, the differential bacterial taxa were involved in lipid and vitamins metabolism.

Conclusion: Our results could provide potential non-invasive biomarker for identification of biliary atresia and contribute to the treatment in terms of ameliorating microbiota dysbiosis.

Keywords: 16S rRNA-sequencing; Biliary atresia; Biomarker; Gut microbiota; Infant.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The composition of microbiota in study subjects. (A) Relative abundance of individual phyla. (B) Number of observed OTU in BA and control group. *, p < 0.05
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Plots of principal coordinate (PCoA) analysis. (A) PCoA based on unweighted Unifrac distance. (B) PCoA based on Bray-Curtis distance
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Taxonomic differences of gut microbiota between BA and control group. (A) Cladogram showing taxa enriched in BA group (pink) and control group (green). (B) Boxplot showing Klebsiella/Bifidobacterium ratio with significant distinction between two groups. **, p < 0.01
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Classification of BA status by abundance of bacterial genera. (A) Classification performance of the random forest model was assessed by area under the ROC curve. (B) Error rate corresponding to tree numbers in the random forest model. OOB = out-of-bag. (C) The top 10 discriminant genera in the model
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
KEGG enrichment analysis of differential bacterial taxa. LDA = linear discriminant analysis
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Jiang H, Gao P, Chen H, Zhong Z, Shu M, Zhang Z, et al. The prognostic value of CD8 + and CD45RO + T cells infiltration and Beclin1 expression levels for early postoperative cholangitis of biliary atresia patients after Kasai operation. J Korean Med Sci. 2018;33:e198. doi: 10.3346/jkms.2018.33.e198. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Song W, Sun LY, Zhu ZJ, Wei L, Qu W, Zeng ZG, et al. Characteristics of gut microbiota in children with biliary atresia after liver transplantation. Front Physiol. 2021;12:704313. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2021.704313. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sundaram SS, Mack CL, Feldman AG, Sokol RJ. Biliary atresia: indications and timing of liver transplantation and optimization of pretransplant care. Liver Transpl. 2017;23:96–109. doi: 10.1002/lt.24640. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gad EH, Kamel Y, Salem TA, Ali MA, Sallam AN. Short- and long-term outcomes after Kasai operation for type III biliary atresia: twenty years of experience in a single tertiary Egyptian center-A retrospective cohort study. Ann Med Surg. 2021;62:302–14. doi: 10.1016/j.amsu.2021.01.052. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ji Y, Yang K, Zhang X, Jin S, Jiang X, Chen S, et al. The short-term outcome of modified laparoscopic Kasai portoenterostomy for biliary atresia. Surg Endosc. 2021;35:1429–34. doi: 10.1007/s00464-020-07530-7. - DOI - PubMed

Substances

LinkOut - more resources