Background: The aims were to comparatively investigate the biostructure of colonic microbiota in patients with neuroendocrine tumors and Crohn's disease (CD) and to study the response of the microbiota to therapy.
Methods: Sections of fecal cylinders from 66 patients with neuroendocrine tumors (NET; 25 foregut, 30 midgut, 11 hindgut), 50 patients with CD (Crohn's Disease Activity Index [CDAI] ≥150), and 30 patients with chronic idiopathic diarrhea seen at the Charité Hospital and 25 healthy controls were investigated using fluorescence in situ hybridization with probes specific for five bacterial groups: Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Clostridium group XIVa / Roseburia group, Bacteroides, Enterobacteriaceae, and Bifidobacteriaceae.
Results: We found a striking F. prausnitzii (Fprau) depletion in the stool of patients with NET of the midgut and patients with CD. The changes of the microbiota in the two other NET groups were uncharacteristic and similar to those observed in patients with chronic idiopathic diarrhea. Fprau depletion was reversible with chemotherapy and with interferon alpha-2b treatment in patients with midgut NET. Somatostatin analogs had no influence on Fprau concentrations.
Conclusions: Patients with NET and CD show similarities in their abnormalities of the fecal biostructure. Interferon alpha and systemic chemotherapy significantly improved the fecal biostructure in patients with midgut NET.
Copyright © 2011 Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America, Inc.