Disordered gut microbiota in patients with autoimmune hepatitis

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is an inflammatory liver disease of unknown etiology. Growing evidence suggests a role of gut microbiota in AIH pathogenesis. In this study, we examined gut microbiota profiles of AIH patients compared to healthy controls. Fecal samples were collected from 15 AIH patients and 15 matched healthy controls. Patients were clinically diagnosed according to guidelines. Individuals receiving recent antibiotics/probiotics were excluded. 16S rRNA sequencing was performed on fecal DNA extractions to survey gut microbial compositions. We found that AIH patients exhibited dysbiotic gut microbiota compared to healthy controls, characterized by decreased microbial diversity and altered composition.

自身免疫性肝炎（Autoimmune hepatitis, AIH）是一类病因未明的炎症性肝病。越来越多的研究证据表明，肠道菌群在自身免疫性肝炎的发病机制中发挥重要作用。本研究对比分析了自身免疫性肝炎患者与健康对照者的肠道菌群谱。研究共采集15例自身免疫性肝炎患者及15例匹配的健康对照者的粪便样本，所有患者均依据临床诊疗指南完成确诊，且排除了近期使用过抗生素或益生菌的受试者。研究人员对粪便样本提取的DNA进行16S rRNA测序，以解析肠道微生物的群落组成。结果显示，与健康对照者相比，自身免疫性肝炎患者的肠道菌群存在失调特征，具体表现为微生物多样性降低以及菌群组成发生改变。