Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Apr 16, 2018; 6(4): 54-63
Published online Apr 16, 2018. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v6.i4.54
Correlations between microbial communities in stool and clinical indicators in patients with metabolic syndrome
Lang Lin, Zai-Bo Wen, Dong-Jiao Lin, Jiang-Ting Dong, Jie Jin, Fei Meng
Lang Lin, Zai-Bo Wen, Dong-Jiao Lin, Jiang-Ting Dong, Department of Gastroenterology, Cangnan People’s Hospital, Cangnan 325800, Zhejiang Province, China
Jie Jin, Fei Meng, Department of Research Service, Zhiyuan Medical Inspection Institute CO., LTD, Hangzhou 310030, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Lin L formulated the problem; Wen ZB, Lin DJ and Dong JT collected samples; Meng F performed 16S rDNA sequencing; Jin J analyzed the data; Lin L and Jin J wrote the paper.
Institutional review board statement: This study has been approved by the ethics committee.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: To the best of our knowledge, no conflicts of interest exist.
Data sharing statement: No additional 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: Lang Lin, MSc, Chief Doctor, Department of Gastroenterology, Cangnan People’s Hospital, Lingxi Town, Yucang Road No.195, Cangnan 325800, Zhejiang Province, China. cnxiaohua1965@sina.cn
Telephone: +86-577-64767351 Fax: +86-577-64767351
Received: January 2, 2018
Peer-review started: January 2, 2018
First decision: January 18, 2018
Revised: February 2, 2018
Accepted: March 7, 2018
Article in press: March 7, 2018
Published online: April 16, 2018
Processing time: 104 Days and 2.2 Hours
Abstract
AIM

To analyze the bacterial community structure and distribution of intestinal microflora in people with and without metabolic syndrome and combined these data with clinical indicators to determine relationships between selected bacteria and metabolic diseases.

METHODS

Faecal samples were collected from 20 patients with metabolic syndrome and 16 controls at Cangnan People’s Hospital, Zhejiang Province, China. DNA was extracted and the V3-V4 regions of the 16S rRNA genes were amplified for high throughput sequencing. Clear reads were clustered at the 97% sequence similarity level. α and β diversity were used to describe the bacterial community structure and distribution in patients. Combined with the clinical indicators, further analysis was performed.

RESULTS

Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Fusobacteria were the dominant phyla, and Prevotella, Bacteroides and Faecalibacterium was the top three genera in faecal samples. α diversity analysis showed that the species richness of metabolic syndrome samples (group D) was significantly higher than the control (group C) (P < 0.05), and the microbial diversity of group C was greater than that of group D. According to the principal co-ordinates analysis, the samples of group C clustered more tightly, indicating that the distribution of bacteria in healthy patients was similar. The correlation analysis showed that alkaline phosphatase was negatively correlated with the abundance of Prevotella (P < 0.05). There was a negative correlation between low-density lipoprotein and the abundance of Ruminococcus (P < 0.05) and a positive correlation between the high-density lipoprotein and the abundance of Ruminococcus (P < 0.05). The total protein and the alanine aminotransferase was positively correlated with the abundance of Peptostreptococcus (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The changes microbial communities can be used as an indicator of metabolic syndrome, and Prevotella may be a target microorganism in patients with metabolic syndrome.

Keywords: Metabolic syndrome; Fecal samples; Bacterial community structure; Prevotella

Core tip: We amplified the V3-V4 regions of the 16S rDNA from faecal samples to analysis the bacterial community structure and distribution of intestinal microflora in patients with metabolic syndrome combined with clinical indicators. The results showed that the species of metabolic syndrome patients was significantly higher than that of controls, and the microbial diversity of controls was greater than that of metabolic syndrome patients. The correlation analysis showed that alkaline phosphatase was negatively correlated with the abundance of Prevotella, indicating that Prevotella may be a target microorganism in patients with metabolic syndrome.