Changes in intestinal fungal diversity and compositions in patients with cholestatic liver disease

Abstract

Objective To analyze the changes in intestinal fungi and compositions in patients with cholestatic liver disease from healthy individuals. Methods Fresh feces from 20 patients with cholestatic liver disease and 22 healthy individuals were collected. The intestinal fungi were determined by ITS2 DNA sequencing, and the differences of fungal flora diversity, structure and functional characteristics between the 2 groups were analyzed by bioinformatics methods, and the correlation between intestinal fungi and clinical parameters was analyzed. Results There were no significant differences in age, sex composition and smoking between the 2 groups (P>0.05). The serological indexes were significantly higher in the patients with cholestatic liver disease than the healthy controls (P 0.05), but significant differences were observed in Beta diversity (P < 0.01). The relative abundance of Myceliophthora was increased (P < 0.01) and that of Diutina was decreased (P < 0.01) in the patients with cholestatic liver disease. LEfSe analysis showed that Myceliophthora was significantly enriched in the patients, and the abundance of Saprotroph-Symbiotroph was significantly lower in the patients than the healthy controls. Spearman correlation coefficient analysis showed that Myceliophthora was positively correlated with alanine transaminase (ALT, P < 0.05), and aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) and total bilirubin (TBIL) (P < 0.01). Conclusion Characteristic changes are seen in intestinal fungal compositions between the patients with cholestatic liver disease and the healthy controls. Myceliophthora is closely associated with the severity of the disease.

Keywords

• cholestatic liver disease
• fungi
• its2 dna