Microbiome alterations are emerging as one of the most important factors that influence the course of alcohol use disorder (AUD). Recent advances in bioinformatics enable more robust and accurate characterization of changes in the composition of the microbiome. In this study, our objective was to provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date evaluation of microbiome alterations associated with AUD and alcoholic liver disease (ALD). To achieve it, we have applied consistent, state of art bioinformatic workflow to raw reads from multiple 16S rRNA sequencing datasets. The study population consisted of 122 patients with AUD, 75 with ALD, 54 with non-alcoholic liver diseases, and 260 healthy controls. We have found several microbiome alterations that were consistent across multiple datasets. The most consistent changes included a significantly lower abundance of multiple butyrate-producing families, including Ruminococcaceae, Lachnospiraceae, and Oscillospiraceae in AUD compared to HC and further reduction of these families in ALD compared with AUD. Other important results include an increase in endotoxin-producing Proteobacteria in AUD, with the ALD group having the largest increase. All of these alterations can potentially contribute to increased intestinal permeability and inflammation associated with AUD and ALD.
Keywords: alcohol; gut microbiota; liver disease; microbiome.