Clinical and Experimental Gastroenterology (Apr 2024)
A Systematic Review: Fecal Bacterial Profile in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome Analyzed with the GA-Map Dysbiosis Test Based on the 16S rRNA Gene of Bacterial Species or Groups
Abstract
Erica Sande Teige,1 Urd Sortvik,1 Gülen Arslan Lied1,2 1Centre for Nutrition, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway; 2Section of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, NorwayCorrespondence: Erica Sande Teige, Centre for Nutrition, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen, Rugdeveien 31, Bergen, 5097, Norway, Tel +47 95172697, Email [email protected]: The diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is based on symptom-based criteria due to lack of reliable disease-specific biomarkers. Gut microbiota is perturbed in IBS and when comparing different methods used to analyze gut microbiota, the results might be obscured. Therefore, in this systematic review we aimed to investigate the profile of fecal bacterial markers and dysbiosis index (DI) in patients with IBS and IBS subgroups compared to healthy controls (HCs) conducted by the same method (GA-map Dysbiosis Test based on16S rRNA sequencing).Material and Method: We searched PubMed, EMBASE (Ovid) and Cochrane Library for case-control studies comparing fecal gut microbiota analyzed with the GA-map® Dysbiosis Test (Oslo, Norway) in patients with IBS and HCs. Our outcomes were the difference in fecal bacterial markers and DI in patients with IBS and IBS subgroups compared to HCs.Results: The search identified 28 citations; five articles were included. Most studies evaluated fecal bacterial markers and DI in patients with diarrhea-predominant IBS (IBS-D). Results of fecal bacteria profile in IBS and IBS subgroups compared to HCs are inconsistent, however, two studies showed increased levels of Ruminococcus gnavus in IBS-D compared to HCs and results of DI indicated IBS and IBS subgroups (especially IBS-D) having higher DI compared to HCs.Conclusion: This systematic review revealed inconsistent findings in respect to differences in bacterial markers between IBS and IBS subgroups with HCs in studies using the GA-map Dysbiosis Test based on 16S rRNA sequencing. However, the test is quite novel, and few studies have used the method so far. More research comparing fecal microbiota profile differences in IBS and IBS subgroups compared to HCs utilizing the same method of analysis is needed to give us further insight into the gut bacteria profile in IBS and the clinical consequences of intestinal dysbiosis.Keywords: gut microbiota, dysbiosis, diagnostic test, Ruminococcus gnavus
