Intestinal Microbial Community Differs between Acute Pancreatitis Patients and Healthy Volunteers

Abstract

A case control study including 45 acute pancreatitis and 44 healthy volunteers was performed to investigate the association between intestinal microbial community and acute pancreatitis. High-throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was used to profile the microbiological composition of the samples. In total, 27 microbial phyla were detected and the samples of pancreatitis patients contained fewer phyla. Samples from acute pancreatitis patients contained more Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria and fewer Firmicutes and Actinobacteria than those from healthy volunteers. PCoA analyses distinguished the fecal microbial communities of acute pancreatitis patients from those of healthy volunteers. The intestinal microbes of acute pancreatitis patients are different from those of healthy volunteers. Modulation of the intestinal microbiome may serve as an alternative strategy for treating acute pancreatitis.