Gut microbiome diversity in acute severe colitis is distinct from mild to moderate ulcerative colitis.
Kedia S., Ghosh TS., Jain S., Desigamani A., Kumar A., Gupta V., Bopanna S., Yadav DP., Goyal S., Makharia G., Travis SPL., Das B., Ahuja V.
Background and aimAlthough the gut microbiome of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) has been characterized, no study has characterized the gut microbiome in acute severe colitis (ASC). We compared the gut microbiome of patients with UC, ASC, and healthy controls (HCs).MethodsPatients with mild to moderate UC (n = 24), ASC (n = 19 with 21 episodes) and HCs (n = 50) were recruited prospectively. A 16SrDNA amplicon approach was used to explore gut microbial diversity and taxonomic repertoires. UC was diagnosed using European Crohn's and Colitis Organization guidelines, and ASC was diagnosed using Truelove and Witts' criteria.ResultsThe normalized alpha diversity was significantly lower in ASC than mild-moderately active UC (P ConclusionsGut microbial diversity is lower in ASC than mild-moderate UC or HCs. Gut microbiome composition is increasingly unstable in ASC, with a distinct abundance of specific genera varying between HCs and ASC. Mild-moderate UC lies within the spectrum.