Revealing the microbial composition of gastric juice in patients with gastric ulcer

Microbiota have been shown make contributions to the development of gastric diseases. Understanding the changes of gastric microbiota during peptic ulceration may help prevent and treat peptic ulcer (PU). Here, gastric microbiota was investigated by 16S rRNA gene sequencing in gastric juice samples from 63 patients, including health control (HC) and PU. There were no significant differences in alpha diversity and beta diversity between the two groups. The dominant phyla of microbial composition mainly include Bacteroidota, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Fusobacteria. At the genus level, the abundance of Helicobacter was higher in the PU group. In differential abundance analysis, some bacteria showed down-regulated (e.g., Staphylococcus and Bergeyella). In addition, there are significant differences in studies of metabolic pathways, such as lipoic acid metabolism, ABC transporters, and butanoate metabolism, which play a key role in the PU. In conclusion, we suggest that the development of PU is associated with changes in gastric microbiota. Our findings will provide new ideas and references for the treatment of PU.