16S V3-V4 -based microbial profiling of duodenal mucosa samples obtained by esophagogastroduodenoscopy from patients affected by potential celiac disease and celiac disease

Potential celiac diseasase (PCD) is characterized by a positive celiac disease (CD) serology and a normal small intestinal mucosa. This particular condition is usually considered a clinical challenge because, although its diagnostic criteria are clear, many questions are still unsettled. Therefore, given that PCD is a valuable biological model of the pathway leading to small intestinal mucosal damage in genetically predisposed individuals, the aim of our study is to evaluate whether immunological, microbial and lipid signatures could better characterize the PCD from the CD condition. Overall design: Total DNA was extracted from duodenal mucosa samples of 17 patients affected CD and 10 patients with PCD and amplicons of variable V3–V4 regions of the bacterial 16s rRNA gene were sequenced in paired end (2x300 cycle) on MiSeq Illumina platform.