Clinical Trials Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 14, 2017; 23(46): 8217-8226
Published online Dec 14, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i46.8217
Characteristics of fecal microbial communities in patients with non-anastomotic biliary strictures after liver transplantation
Jing Zhang, Feng-Gang Ren, Peng Liu, Hong-Ke Zhang, Hao-Yang Zhu, Zhe Feng, Xu-Feng Zhang, Bo Wang, Xue-Ming Liu, Xiao-Gang Zhang, Rong-Qian Wu, Yi Lv
Jing Zhang, Feng-Gang Ren, Peng Liu, Hong-Ke Zhang, Hao-Yang Zhu, Zhe Feng, Xu-Feng Zhang, Bo Wang, Xue-Ming Liu, Xiao-Gang Zhang, Yi Lv, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China
Jing Zhang, Feng-Gang Ren, Peng Liu, Hong-Ke Zhang, Hao-Yang Zhu, Zhe Feng, Xu-Feng Zhang, Bo Wang, Xue-Ming Liu, Xiao-Gang Zhang, Rong-Qian Wu, Yi Lv, Institute of Advanced Surgical Technology and Engineering, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China
Jing Zhang, Feng-Gang Ren, Peng Liu, Hong-Ke Zhang, Hao-Yang Zhu, Zhe Feng, Xu-Feng Zhang, Bo Wang, Xue-Ming Liu, Xiao-Gang Zhang, Rong-Qian Wu, Yi Lv, Shaanxi Provincial Center for Regenerative Medicine and Surgical Engineering, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China
Author contributions: Zhang J, Lv Y, Wu RQ, Wang B, Liu XM and Zhang XG designed the study; Zhang J and Feng Z collected the samples; Zhang J, Liu P and Feng Z performed the DNA extraction; Zhang J, Ren FG, Zhu HY, Zhang XF and Lv Y performed the data analysis and interpretation; Zhang J, Ren FG, Liu P and Zhu HY drafted the manuscript; Lv Y and Wu RQ revised the manuscript critically; the funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81470896.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University Institutional Review Board.
Informed consent statement: All participants were totally informed of the related matters prior to entering in and signed the informed consent form.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Data sharing statement: No additional unpublished data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Yi Lv, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, 277 West Yanta Road, Xi’an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China. luyi169@126.com
Telephone: +86-13991200581 Fax: +86-29-82653903
Received: August 2, 2017
Peer-review started: August 5, 2017
First decision: August 30, 2017
Revised: September 13, 2017
Accepted: November 7, 2017
Article in press: November 7, 2017
Published online: December 14, 2017
Processing time: 131 Days and 16.6 Hours
Abstract
AIM

To explore the possible relationship between fecal microbial communities and non-anastomotic stricture (NAS) after liver transplantation (LT).

METHODS

A total of 30 subjects including 10 patients with NAS, 10 patients with no complications after LT, and 10 non-LT healthy individuals were enrolled. Fecal microbial communities were assessed by the 16S rRNA gene sequencing technology.

RESULTS

Different from the uncomplicated and healthy groups, unbalanced fecal bacterium ratio existed in patients with NAS after LT. The results showed that NAS patients were associated with a decrease of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes and an increase of Proteobacteria at the phylum level, with the proportion-ratio imbalance between potential pathogenic families including Enterococcaceae, Streptococcaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonadaceae and dominant families including Bacteroidaceae.

CONCLUSION

The compositional shifts of the increase of potential pathogenic bacteria as well as the decrease of dominant bacteria might contribute to the incidence of NAS.

Keywords: Non-anastomotic stricture; Orthotopic liver transplantation; Fecal microbiota; Dysbacteriosis; Ischemia-reperfusion injury

Core tip: This study is the first attempt to investigate the possible relationship between gut microbiota and post-liver transplantation (LT) biliary complication based on the 16S rRNA sequencing technology. Our results showed unbalanced ratio of pathogenic bacteria to dominant bacteria really existed in patients with non-anastomotic stricture after LT. The shifts of fecal microbial communities may be involved in or exacerbate the process of bile duct injury, which may contribute to the mechanism research and prevention in future.