Altered gut fungi in systemic lupus erythematosus – A pilot study

Abstract

ObjectiveGut fungi, as symbiosis with the human gastrointestinal tract, may regulate physiology via multiple interactions with host cells. The plausible role of fungi in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is far from clear and need to be explored.MethodsA total of 64 subjects were recruited, including SLE, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), undifferentiated connective tissue diseases (UCTDs) patients and healthy controls (HCs). Fecal samples of subjects were collected. Gut fungi and bacteria were detected by ITS sequencing and 16S rRNA gene sequencing, respectively. Alpha and beta diversities of microbiota were analyzed. Linear discriminant analysis effect size analysis was performed to identify abundance of microbiota in different groups. The correlation network between bacterial and fungal microbiota was analyzed based on Spearman correlation.ResultsGut fungal diversity and community composition exhibited significant shifts in SLE compared with UCTDs, RA and HCs. Compared with HCs, the alpha and beta diversities of fungal microbiota decreased in SLE patients. According to principal coordinates analysis results, the constitution of fungal microbiota from SLE, RA, UCTDs patients and HCs exhibited distinct differences with a clear separation between fungal microbiota. There was dysbiosis in the compositions of fungal and bacterial microbiota in the SLE patients, compared to HCs. Pezizales, Cantharellales and Pseudaleuria were enriched in SLE compared with HCs, RA and UCTDs. There was a complex relationship network between bacterial and fungal microbiota, especially Candida which was related to a variety of bacteria.ConclusionThis study presents a pilot analysis of fungal microbiota with diversity and composition in SLE, and identifies several gut fungi with different abundance patterns taxa among SLE, RA, UCTDs and HCs. Furthermore, the gut bacterial-fungal association network in SLE patients was altered compared with HCs.

Alterations of the gut microbiota in the lupus nephritis: a systematic review

“…After evaluating the 15 clinical studies using the Newcastle–Ottawa scale [ 23 ], five (5/14) clinical studies [ 26 , 27 , 32 , 34 , 39 ] were rated with a score of 7, eight (8/15) [ 25 , 28–31 , 33 , 35 , 38 ]with a score of 6, and two (2/15) [ 36 , 37 ] with a score of 5, indicating that the overall quality of the included studies was universally high ( Table S2 ).…”

“…In eight (8/15) of the clinical studies, alpha diversity was found to be lower in LN patients than in HCs, mainly by the Chao1 [ 25 , 36 , 37 , 39 ], Shannon indexes [ 26 , 28 , 33 , 35 , 37 , 39 ] and Simpson indexes [ 26 ] and in three (3/15) clinical studies [ 31 , 32 , 45 ], no significant differences were found. In terms of beta diversity, seven (7/15) clinical studies [ 25 , 26 , 28 , 30 , 31 , 33 , 39 ] found that there was a difference in the diversity between the two groups, while four (4/15) clinical studies [27, 32 , 36 , 37 ] reported no significant difference ( Table S3 ).…”

“…At the phylum level, six (6/15) clinical studies [ 29–32 , 34 , 36 ] found a lower Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes (F/B) ratio in LN patients than in the HCs ( Figure 2 ). Four (4/14) clinical studies [ 32 , 33 , 36 , 37 ] and one (1/7) animal study [ 43 ] found a higher abundance of Proteobacteria in LN patients than in HCs. At the genus level, three (3/14) clinical studies [27, 35 , 39 ] found a higher abundance of Streptococcus in LN patients than in the HCs.…”

“…was found to be higher in the LN group than in the control group in one (1/14) clinical study [ 28 ] and two (2/5) animal studies [ 28 , 41 ], but one (1/7) animal study [ 44 ] found a lower abundance. The genus Lactobacillus and species Lactobacillus reuteri ( L. reuteri ) were mentioned as having changes in abundance in two (2/14) clinical studies [ 32 , 38 ] and three (3/7) animal studies [ 38 , 42 , 43 ]. The results with consistent variation in bacterial abundance were extracted to draw a phylogenetic diagram ( Figure S1 ).…”

Advances in psoriasis and gut microorganisms with co-metabolites

“…In addition to bacteria that can influence various physiopathological processes from immune development to phenotype, mounting studies demonstrated the involvement of intestinal fungi in the regulation of immune homeostasis ( Doron et al, 2021 ; Li B. Z. et al, 2022 ).…”