Gut microbiota dysbiosis in patients with hepatitis B virus-related cirrhosis

Abstract

Introduction and aim: Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is a global epidemic disease that results from hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and may progress to liver cirrhosis. The relationship between hepatitis B virus-related cirrhosis (HBV-RC) and gut microbiota dysbiosis is still unclear. The aim of this study is to elucidate the compositional and functional characteristics of the gut microbiota in the patients with liver cirrhosis and healthy individuals.

Materials and methods: We analyzed the gut microbiome in patients with HBV-RC and healthy individuals by 16S rRNA sequencing and metagenomic sequencing of fecal samples. A total of 113 genera, 85 families, 57 orders, 44 classes and 21 phyla were performed.

Results: Our results suggests that the composition of the gut microbiota had changed in the early stages of cirrhosis. We further identified more than 17 genera with different richness in compensated and decompensated cirrhosis groups. PICRUSt analysis showed that changes in bacterial composition can lead to significant changes in gene function, which may be one of the causes of liver cirrhosis.

Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that the composition of gut microbiota changed at different phases of HBV-RC. Gut microbiome transformation may be a biological factor in the progression of cirrhosis.

Keywords: Dysbiosis; Gut microbiota; Hepatitis B virus; Liver cirrhosis; Metagenomic sequencing.