The Relationship between Fecal Bile Acids and Microbiome Community Structure in Pediatric Crohn's Disease

Gut microbiome community structure is associated with Crohn's disease (CD) development and response to therapy. Bile acids (BAs) play a central role in modulating intestinal immune responses, and changes in gut bacterial communities can profoundly alter the intestinal BA pool. We investigated the relationship between the gut microbiome and the fecal BA pool in stool samples obtained from a well-characterized cohort of pediatric CD patients undergoing nutritional therapy to induce disease remission. We found that fecal BA composition was altered in a sub-group of CD patients who did not sustain remission. The microbial community structures associated with priBA and secBA-dominant profiles were distinct.

肠道微生物组（gut microbiome）群落结构与克罗恩病（Crohn's disease, CD）的发生发展及治疗应答密切相关。胆汁酸（bile acids, BAs）在调控肠道免疫应答中发挥核心作用，而肠道菌群群落的改变可显著重塑肠道胆汁酸池（BA pool）。本研究从接受旨在诱导疾病缓解的营养治疗的表型特征完备的儿童克罗恩病患者队列中获取粪便样本，探究了肠道微生物组与粪便胆汁酸池之间的关联。研究发现，未维持疾病缓解的亚组CD患者的粪便胆汁酸组成发生了显著改变。与初级胆汁酸（priBA）和次级胆汁酸（secBA）主导型特征相关的微生物群落结构存在显著差异。