Preliminary exploration of the characteristics of intestinal flora in patients with hepatic alveolar echinococcosis based on multi-omics

Background: Multilocular echinococcosis (AE) is a lethal zoonotic disease caused by the larvae of Echinococcus multilocularis (E.multilocularis), with high mortality and limited treatment. This study preliminarily explored the gut microbiota-metabolic axis of patients with AE to reveal potential mechanisms and therapeutic targets.Methods: Metagenomic sequencing and non-targeted metabolomics (LC/MS) were used to analyze the fecal samples of 14 patients with AE and 5 healthy controls. Beta diversity, species/functional composition, and metabolic profiles were compared between groups. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was used to identify the correlation between microbial taxa and metabolites. Finally, the obtained data were preliminarily verified using Mendelian randomization.Results: We found 27 significantly different gut microbiota in patients with AE, of which 22 showed abnormal depletion and decreased connectivity of microbial species, and only five showed a significant increase. Metabolism is concentrated in amino acid and lipid metabolism. A total of 27 microorganisms and metabolites were combined through WGCNA, and 934 metabolites were identified to be significantly correlated with the seven intestinal flora. We preliminarily determined that there was a significant correlation between eight intestinal microbes and relative metabolites through the verification of Mendelian randomization, indicative of intestinal microflora and metabolomics close impact on AE occurrence.Conclusion: This is the first study to comprehensively demonstrate the close relationship between the gut microbiome and metabolites in patients with AE, which may provide new guidance for the diagnosis and treatment of this disease.