Characterization of Gut Microbiota Associated with Clinical Parameters in Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnant Patients

Abstract

BackgroundIntrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is a liver disease that specifically occurs during pregnancy.Pregnant women with ICP biochemically reflect elevated liver functions and increases in serum bilirubin levels, while clinically individuals can display symptoms of itching and have elevated risks of preterm delivery and stillbirths. We hypothesized that there linkages between gut microbiota and ICP progression exist and could be scientifically characterized. MethodsIn total, 27 patients with ICP and 31 unafflicted control patients were recruited in this study. We performed 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing on gut microbiota from individual fecal samples.Sequencing data was analyzed and the correlations between components of microbiota and patient ICP status were tested. Relative abundances, related metabolic pathways, and significantly different OTUs between ICP and control patients were identified. ResultsBiochemical indices including measures for bile, ALT, AST, Dbil, and Tbil, and these were found to at higher levels in ICP versus control patients. Gut microbiota in pregnant women was dominated by four major phyla and 27 core genera. PCoA analysis results indicated that there was marginal significant clustering in unweighted Unifrac distance matrices. A moderate correlation coefficient was observed between specific OTUs and measured clinical parameters of patients. When comparing relatively rare microbiota taxa, the abundance of Butyricimonas was lower, while Citrobacter, Pseudomonas, Streptococcus, and Weissella were higher in ICP patients than in control patients. No significant differences in the pathways between ICP and control patients were identified. ConclusionsOur research indicated that patients with ICP have altered phylogenetic gut microbiota profiles compared to control patients without ICP, and that the composition was associated with measurements of patient clinical parameters. These alterations may be correlated with variations of