Potential Gut Microbiota Features for Non-Invasive Detection of Schistosomiasis

Abstract

The gut microbiota has been identified as a predictive biomarker for various diseases. However, few studies focused on the diagnostic accuracy of gut microbiota derived-signature for predicting hepatic injuries in schistosomiasis. Here, we characterized the gut microbiomes from 94 human and mouse stool samples using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The diversity and composition of gut microbiomes in Schistosoma japonicum infection-induced disease changed significantly. Gut microbes, such as Bacteroides, Blautia, Enterococcus, Alloprevotella, Parabacteroides and Mucispirillum, showed a significant correlation with the level of hepatic granuloma, fibrosis, hydroxyproline, ALT or AST in S. japonicum infection-induced disease. We identified a range of gut bacterial features to distinguish schistosomiasis from hepatic injuries using the random forest classifier model, LEfSe and STAMP analysis. Significant features Bacteroides, Blautia, and Enterococcus and their combinations have a robust predictive accuracy (AUC: from 0.8182 to 0.9639) for detecting liver injuries induced by S. japonicum infection in humans and mice. Our study revealed associations between gut microbiota features and physiopathology and serological shifts of schistosomiasis and provided preliminary evidence for novel gut microbiota-derived features for the non-invasive detection of schistosomiasis.

The Gut Microbiome of an Indigenous Agropastoralist Population in a Remote Area of Colombia with High Rates of Gastrointestinal Infections and Dysbiosis

“…Finally, Parabacteroides , Prevotella , and Butyrivibrio were associated with salmonellosis, EPEC, and helminth infections. Of note, similar observations have been reported previously, both from epidemiological assessments and experimental veterinary medical assessments [ 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 ]. Such coincidences in the literature confirm the findings of the assessments presented here, although potential causal relations are still largely unknown.…”

Helminths and Bacterial Microbiota: The Interactions of Two of Humans’ “Old Friends”

“…Hence, more findings clarifying the directionality of these associations is needed. In addition, recent experimental data suggest that, in the future, analysis of the microbiota could predict the outcomes of some helminth infections such as schistosomiasis [ 116 ]. Moreover, oncoming data from experimental research would help increase our understanding of the mechanisms of the helminth–microbiota interactions, including studies that elucidate the involved host’s genetic factors.…”

Identification of trans-genus biomarkers for early diagnosis of intestinal schistosomiasis and progression of gut pathology in a mouse model using metabolomics

“…The dysbiosis of intestinal bacteria is the common finding in schistosomiasis. Evidence has shown that the disturbance of bacterial diversity in intestine occurred with Schistosoma infection with, both sex [ 35 ], single sex [ 36 ], and S . haematobium that the adults do not release their eggs to intestinal lumen [ 37 ].…”