{"title":"Fecal carriage of multidrug-resistant organisms increases the risk of hepatic encephalopathy in patients with cirrhosis: insights from gut microbiota and metabolite features.","authors":"Pei-Shan Wu, Pei-Chang Lee, Tien-En Chang, Yun-Cheng Hsieh, Chi-Wei Huang, Chao-Hsiung Lin, Yi-Long Huang, Yi-Tsung Lin, Teh-Ia Huo, Bernd Schnabl, Kuei-Chuan Lee, Ming-Chih Hou","doi":"10.1186/s13099-025-00706-3","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13099-025-00706-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The impact of the fecal multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) carriage on the gut microbiota, metabolite alterations, and cirrhosis-related complications remains unclear.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Eighty-eight patients with cirrhosis and 22 healthy volunteers were analyzed for plasma metabolites, fecal MDROs, and microbiota composition. The fecal bacterial and fungal composition was assessed using 16S ribosomal RNA and internal transcribed spacer sequencing, whereas plasma metabolomic analysis was evaluated via untargeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Predictors of cirrhosis-related outcomes, risk factors for MDRO carriage, and microbiota-metabolite correlations were analyzed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Fecal MDRO carriage was detected in 33% of patients with cirrhosis. MDRO carriers had a higher risk of hepatic encephalopathy (HE) compared to non-carriers (20.7% vs. 3.2%, p = 0.008). Patients carrying MDROs had higher plasma lipopolysaccharide (LPS) levels, and both elevated LPS and MDRO carriage independently predicted HE occurrence within 1 year. Compared with non-carriers, MDRO carriers had higher fecal bacterial and fungal burdens and exhibited different gut microbiota compositions, characterized by increased Streptococcus salivarius and enrichment of Saccharomycetes and Candida albicans. Thirty-one metabolites differed significantly among healthy controls, and patients with cirrhosis, with and without MDRO carriage. Six metabolites were significantly correlated with specific microbial taxa in MDRO carriers. Isoaustin, a fungal-derived metabolite, was significantly elevated in MDRO carriers with HE.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Fecal MDRO carriage was associated with endotoxemia, altered gut microbiota, metabolic changes, and a higher risk of HE. It's worthy to monitor fecal MDRO colonization in cirrhosis.</p>","PeriodicalId":12833,"journal":{"name":"Gut Pathogens","volume":"17 1","pages":"30"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12085042/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144086078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gut PathogensPub Date : 2025-05-15DOI: 10.1186/s13099-025-00701-8
Zhiyun Zhang, Jing He, Xueqing Liu, Linqian Huang, Zhou Zeng, Yao Peng, Xunchao Cai
{"title":"Genome-based analyses from four clinically-isolated strains refined the taxonomy of Proteus genomosp. 6 and revealed their underestimated role in gastrointestinal diseases.","authors":"Zhiyun Zhang, Jing He, Xueqing Liu, Linqian Huang, Zhou Zeng, Yao Peng, Xunchao Cai","doi":"10.1186/s13099-025-00701-8","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13099-025-00701-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Proteus spp. have long been recognized for their role in urinary tract infections, while recent evidence disclosed their implications in gastrointestinal diseases. Despite this, the taxonomy of clinically-derived Proteus spp., particularly those from gastrointestinal samples, remains understudied and is frequently mis-assigned, which limits our understanding of infections caused by these species.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Four Proteus strains (i.e., DFP240708, LHD240705, TSJ240517 and WDL240414) were isolated from the appendiceal pus of patients with acute appendicitis, whole-genome average nucleotide identity (ANI) analysis identified all of them as Proteus genomosp. 6, different from that identified using the automated bacterial identification instrument (VITEK<sup>®</sup>-32). Based on ANI and the core-genomic phylogenetic tree, we found that 87.5% of clinically-related strains previously identified as P. columbae should be re-classified as Proteus genomosp. 6. Additionally, the Proteus genomosp. 6 genomes all carry one or more beta-lactam resistance genes, but none carry aminoglycoside resistance genes, and antibiotic susceptibility testing conducted on the four strains isolated in this study confirmed these findings. Among the genomes analyzed, only four (two from this study (TSJ240517 and WDL240414)) carried virulence genes, specifically the hlyA, hlyB, and hlyD genes encoding hemolysin.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our study highlights inaccuracies in the taxa classification of Proteus species under clinical settings, underscoring the necessity of using genomic-based taxonomic assignment methods. We revealed that the prevalence of Proteus genomosp. 6 in clinical infections has likely been underestimated. Furthermore, given the resistance-gene absence and their sensitivity to aminoglycosides, aminoglycosides may serve as a promising first-line treatment option for infections caused by this species.</p>","PeriodicalId":12833,"journal":{"name":"Gut Pathogens","volume":"17 1","pages":"29"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12082999/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144077689","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gut PathogensPub Date : 2025-05-14DOI: 10.1186/s13099-025-00705-4
Jianmin Hu, Ding Liu, Guorong Liao, Ying Guo, Min Li, Jun Liao, Hua Chen, Song Zhou, Siqiang Yang, Shichao Li, Yongguang Liu, Ming Zhao
{"title":"Fecal microbiota transplantation alleviates immunosuppressant-associated diarrhea and recurrent urinary tract infection in kidney transplant recipients: a retrospective analysis.","authors":"Jianmin Hu, Ding Liu, Guorong Liao, Ying Guo, Min Li, Jun Liao, Hua Chen, Song Zhou, Siqiang Yang, Shichao Li, Yongguang Liu, Ming Zhao","doi":"10.1186/s13099-025-00705-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13099-025-00705-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Immunosuppressant administration subsequent to organ transplantation exerts a substantial influence on gut microbiota composition, thereby affecting patients' prognosis and quality of life.</p><p><strong>Methods and results: </strong>We conducted a retrospective analysis involving 18 patients who experienced severe diarrhea or recurrent urinary tract infection (rUTI) due to prolonged immunosuppressant usage after kidney transplantation. Following episodes of severe diarrhea or rUTI, these individuals underwent fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), resulting in notable alleviation of clinical symptoms. No unexpected adverse or serious adverse events were reported. In comparison to the pre-FMT period, the α-diversity of the intestinal microbiota in patients did not exhibit a significant difference following FMT; however, there was a notable distinction in the β-diversity and analysis of similarity (ANOSIM). In addition, our findings indicated a significant decline in the relative abundance of the bacterial genera Veillonella, Enterococcus, and Oribacterium, whereas a marked elevation was observed in the relative abundance of Faecalibacterium, Roseburia, Sutterella, Parasutterella, and Ruminiclostridium 5 after FMT in patients. Furthermore, there was a notable alteration in the metabolic pathway of gut microbiota in patients following FMT, with a significant enrichment observed in pathways such as Flavone and flavonol biosynthesis, Cytoskeleton proteins, Chromosome-related processes, NOD-like receptor signaling pathway, Progesterone-mediated oocyte maturation, and Antigen processing and presentation.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>FMT exhibited an effective approach for managing rUTI and diarrhea arising from postoperative immunosuppressant exposure in kidney transplant recipients.</p>","PeriodicalId":12833,"journal":{"name":"Gut Pathogens","volume":"17 1","pages":"28"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12079832/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144077686","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Thomasclavelia ramosa and alcohol-related hepatocellular carcinoma: a microbial culturomics study.","authors":"Reham Magdy Wasfy, Anissa Abdoulaye, Patrick Borentain, Babacar Mbaye, Maryam Tidjani Alou, Aurelia Caputo, Claudia Andrieu, Giovanna Mottola, Anthony Levasseur, Matthieu Million, Rene Gerolami","doi":"10.1186/s13099-025-00703-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13099-025-00703-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Gut microbiota alteration is implicated in the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) and associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). No study has characterized the dysbiosis associated with ALD by microbial culturomics, which certifies viability and allows pathobiont strain candidates to be characterized.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A case-control study (n = 59) was conducted on patients with ALD without HCC (ALD-NoHCC, n = 16), ALD with HCC (ALD-HCC, n = 19) and controls (n = 24) groups. 16 S rRNA amplicon sequencing and microbial culturomics were used as complementary methods for gut microbiome profiling.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Compared to the control group, Thomasclavelia ramosa and Gemmiger formicilis were significantly increased in the ALD-HCC group and Mediterraneibacter gnavus was significantly increased in the ALD-NoHCC group using 16 S rRNA sequencing. By microbial culturomics, T. ramosa was detected in all ALD samples (100%), and the most enriched since cultivated in only a small proportion of controls (20%, p < 0.001).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>T. ramosa, identified by culturomics and 16 rRNA sequencing, may be associated with ALD and ALD-HCC. These results highlight the potential role of T. ramosa in liver cancer, in line with its genotoxic properties and its tumor growth-promoting effect in gnotobiotic mice recently reported.</p>","PeriodicalId":12833,"journal":{"name":"Gut Pathogens","volume":"17 1","pages":"27"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12057272/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143998653","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gut PathogensPub Date : 2025-05-03DOI: 10.1186/s13099-025-00691-7
Nitya Singh, Cecilie A N Thystrup, Bahar Mummed Hassen, Menuka Bhandari, Gireesh Rajashekara, Tine M Hald, Mark J Manary, Sarah L McKune, Jemal Yusuf Hassen, Helen L Smith, Jonathan C Marshall, Nigel P French, Arie H Havelaar
{"title":"Transmission pathways of Campylobacter jejuni between humans and livestock in rural Ethiopia are highly complex and interdependent.","authors":"Nitya Singh, Cecilie A N Thystrup, Bahar Mummed Hassen, Menuka Bhandari, Gireesh Rajashekara, Tine M Hald, Mark J Manary, Sarah L McKune, Jemal Yusuf Hassen, Helen L Smith, Jonathan C Marshall, Nigel P French, Arie H Havelaar","doi":"10.1186/s13099-025-00691-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13099-025-00691-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli are the most common causes of bacterial enteritis worldwide whereas symptomatic and asymptomatic infections are associated with stunting in children in low- and middle-income countries. Little is known about their sources and transmission pathways in low- and middle-income countries, and particularly for infants and young children. We assessed the genomic diversity of C. jejuni in Eastern Ethiopia to determine the attribution of infections in infants under 1 year of age to livestock (chickens, cattle, goats and sheep) and other humans (siblings, mothers).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Among 287 C. jejuni isolates, 48 seven-gene sequence types (STs), including 11 previously unreported STs were identified. Within an ST, the core genome STs of multiple isolates differed in fewer than five alleles. Many of these isolates do not belong to the most common STs reported in high-resource settings, and of the six most common global STs, only ST50 was found in our study area. Isolates from the same infant sample were closely related, while those from consecutive infant samples often displayed different STs, suggesting rapid clearance and new infection. Four different attribution models using different genomic profiling methods, assumptions and estimation methods predicted that chickens are the primary reservoir for infant infections. Infections from chickens are transmitted with or without other humans (mothers, siblings) as intermediate sources. Model predictions differed in terms of the relative importance of cattle versus small ruminants as additional sources.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The transmission pathways of C. jejuni in our study area are highly complex and interdependent. While chickens are the most important reservoir of C. jejuni, ruminant reservoirs also contribute to the infections. The currently nonculturable species Candidatus C. infans is also highly prevalent in infants and is likely anthroponotic. Efforts to reduce the colonization of infants with Campylobacter and ultimately stunting in low-resource settings are best aimed at protecting proximate sources such as caretakers' hands, food and indoor soil through tight integration of the currently siloed domains of nutrition, food safety and water, sanitation and hygiene.</p>","PeriodicalId":12833,"journal":{"name":"Gut Pathogens","volume":"17 1","pages":"26"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12049777/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144019566","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Correction: Molecular confirmation of Cryptosporidium and Cyclospora species in children with acute diarrhoea in Quindio region, Colombia.","authors":"Jessica Triviño-Valencia, Alejandro Nati-Castillo, Nancy Yhomara Cabeza, Fabiana Lora-Suarez, Jorge Gómez-Marín","doi":"10.1186/s13099-025-00690-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13099-025-00690-8","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":12833,"journal":{"name":"Gut Pathogens","volume":"17 1","pages":"25"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12013136/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143962220","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gut PathogensPub Date : 2025-04-16DOI: 10.1186/s13099-025-00698-0
Heidelinde Sammallahti, Sama Rezasoltani, Satu Pekkala, Arto Kokkola, Hamid Asadzadeh Agdaei, Mehdi Azizmohammad Looha, Reza Ghanbari, Farhad Zamani, Amir Sadeghi, Virinder Kaur Sarhadi, Marja Tiirola, Pauli Puolakkainen, Sakari Knuutila
{"title":"Fecal profiling reveals a common microbial signature for pancreatic cancer in Finnish and Iranian cohorts.","authors":"Heidelinde Sammallahti, Sama Rezasoltani, Satu Pekkala, Arto Kokkola, Hamid Asadzadeh Agdaei, Mehdi Azizmohammad Looha, Reza Ghanbari, Farhad Zamani, Amir Sadeghi, Virinder Kaur Sarhadi, Marja Tiirola, Pauli Puolakkainen, Sakari Knuutila","doi":"10.1186/s13099-025-00698-0","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13099-025-00698-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Pancreatic cancer (PC) presents a significant challenge in oncology because of its late-stage diagnosis and limited treatment options. The inadequacy of current screening methods has prompted investigations into stool-based assays and microbial classifiers as potential early detection markers. The gut microbiota composition of PC patients may be influenced by population differences, thereby impacting the accuracy of disease prediction. However, comprehensive profiling of the PC gut microbiota and analysis of these cofactors remain limited. Therefore, we analyzed the stool microbiota of 33 Finnish and 50 Iranian PC patients along with 35 Finnish and 34 Iranian healthy controls using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We assessed similarities and differences of PC gut microbiota in both populations while considering sociocultural impacts and generated a statistical model for disease prediction based on microbial classifiers. Our aim was to expand the current understanding of the PC gut microbiota, discuss the impact of population differences, and contribute to the development of early PC diagnosis through microbial biomarkers.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Compared with healthy controls, PC patients presented reduced microbial diversity, with discernible microbial profiles influenced by factors such as ethnicity, demographics, and lifestyle. PC was marked by significantly higher abundances of facultative pathogens including Enterobacteriaceae, Enterococcaceae, and Fusobacteriaceae, and significantly lower abundances of beneficial bacteria. In particular, bacteria belonging to the Clostridia class, such as butyrate-producing Lachnospiraceae, Butyricicoccaceae, and Ruminococcaceae, were depleted. A microbial classifier for the prediction of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) was developed in the Iranian cohort and evaluated in the Finnish cohort, where it yielded a respectable AUC of 0.88 (95% CI 0.78, 0.97).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study highlights the potential of gut microbes as biomarkers for noninvasive PC screening and the development of targeted therapies, emphasizing the need for further research to validate these findings in diverse populations. A comprehensive understanding of the role of the gut microbiome in PC could significantly enhance early detection efforts and improve patient outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":12833,"journal":{"name":"Gut Pathogens","volume":"17 1","pages":"24"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12001732/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143988912","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gut PathogensPub Date : 2025-04-11DOI: 10.1186/s13099-025-00689-1
Lucía Huertas-Díaz, Louise Guldager Vestergaard, Angeliki Marietou, Marta Irla, Jürgen Behr, Mark M Somoza, Anders Feilberg, Clarissa Schwab
{"title":"Insights into the utilisation of 1,2-propanediol and interactions with the cell envelope of Clostridium perfringens.","authors":"Lucía Huertas-Díaz, Louise Guldager Vestergaard, Angeliki Marietou, Marta Irla, Jürgen Behr, Mark M Somoza, Anders Feilberg, Clarissa Schwab","doi":"10.1186/s13099-025-00689-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13099-025-00689-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Breastfeeding is a major determinant of gut microbiota composition and fermentation activity during the first months of life. Breastmilk delivers human milk oligosaccharides (HMO) as substrates for microbial intestinal fermentation. One of the main metabolites that accumulates in feces of breastfed infants is 1,2-propanediol (1,2PD) resulting from the metabolism of fucosylated HMO. 1,2PD is used in microbial cross-feeding to produce propionate, but 1,2PD is also an alcohol that can impact the state of the microbial cell envelope. To shed further light on an understudied compound in the infant gut, we investigated the genetic and metabolic potential of the early gut colonizer Clostridium perfringens to utilise 1,2PD, and the interactions of 1,2PD with the cell envelope.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Based on genome analysis, C. perfringens FMT 1006 isolated from infant feces possessed most genes of the pdu operon related to 1,2PD metabolism. C. perfringens consumed 1,2PD (78%) and produced 1-propanol as the main metabolite, while propionate was not detected. In agreement, genes responsible for 1,2PD utilisation and propanol formation (pduCDE, dhaT) were highly expressed. When cultivated in the presence of 1,2PD and glucose, a higher proportion of 1,2PD carbon (87%) was recovered as compared to incubation with only 1,2PD (34%). At the same time, lactate and acetate were formed in a ratio of 2.16:1.0 with 1,2PD and glucose compared to a ratio 9.0:1.0 during growth with only glucose possibly due to reallocation of the NAD<sup>+</sup>/NADH pool in favor of 1-propanol formation. The presence of 1,2PD slightly increased membrane fluidity and modified the composition of the membrane to a higher content of elongated glycerophosphoethanolamines.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>We provide here new knowledge on the metabolism of 1,2PD by a microbial species that is present during breastfeeding and observed that C. perfringens metabolised 1,2PD mainly to propanol. The presence of 1,2PD had little impact on membrane fluidity and let to modifications of membrane lipid composition. Collectively, these findings advance our understanding of on intestinal metabolite-microbe interactions during breastfeeding.</p>","PeriodicalId":12833,"journal":{"name":"Gut Pathogens","volume":"17 1","pages":"23"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11992839/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143988725","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gut PathogensPub Date : 2025-04-11DOI: 10.1186/s13099-025-00694-4
Khoudia Diop, Babacar Mbaye, Somayeh Nili, Alysé Filin, Myriam Benlaifaoui, Julie Malo, Anne Sophie Renaud, Wiam Belkaid, Sebastian Hunter, Meriem Messaoudene, Karla A Lee, Arielle Elkrief, Bertrand Routy
{"title":"Coupling culturomics and metagenomics sequencing to characterize the gut microbiome of patients with cancer treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors.","authors":"Khoudia Diop, Babacar Mbaye, Somayeh Nili, Alysé Filin, Myriam Benlaifaoui, Julie Malo, Anne Sophie Renaud, Wiam Belkaid, Sebastian Hunter, Meriem Messaoudene, Karla A Lee, Arielle Elkrief, Bertrand Routy","doi":"10.1186/s13099-025-00694-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13099-025-00694-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The gut microbiome represents a novel biomarker for melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). Gut microbiome metagenomics profiling studies of patients treated with immunotherapy identified bacteria associated with ICI efficacy, while others have been linked to resistance. However, limitations of metagenomics sequencing, such as complex bioinformatic processing requirements, necessity of a threshold for positive detection, and the inability to detect live organisms, have hindered our ability to fully characterize the gut microbiome. Therefore, combining metagenomics with high-throughput culture-based techniques (culturomics) represents an ideal strategy to fully characterize microbiome composition to more robustly position the microbiome as a biomarker of response to ICI.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We performed culturomics using fecal samples from 22 patients from two academic centres in Canada and the United Kingdom with NSCLC and cutaneous melanoma treated with ICI (cancer group), comparing their microbiome composition to that of 7 healthy volunteers (HV), along with matching shotgun metagenomics sequencing.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>For culturomics results, 221 distinct species were isolated. Among these 221 distinct species, 182 were identified in the cancer group and 110 in the HV group. In the HV group, the mean species richness was higher compared to the cancer group (34 vs. 18, respectively, p = 0.002). Beta diversity revealed separate clusters between groups (p = 0.004). Bifidobacterium spp. and Bacteroides spp. were enriched in HV, while cancer patients showed an overrepresentation of Enterocloster species, as well as Veillonella parvula. Next, comparing cancer patients' clinical outcomes to ICI, we observed that among the 20 most abundant bacteria present in non-responder patients, 2 belonged to the genus Enterocloster, along with an enrichment of Hungatella hathewayi and Cutibacterium acnes. In contrast, responders to ICI exhibited a predominance of Bacteroides spp. In NSCLC patients, metagenomics analysis revealed that of the 154 bacteria species isolated through culturomics, 61/154 (39%) were also identified by metagenomics sequencing. Importantly, 94 individual species were uniquely detected by culturomics.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>These findings highlight that culturomics and metagenomics can serve as complementary tools to characterize the microbiome in patients with cancer. This integrated approach uncovers specific microbiome signatures that differentiate HV from cancer patients, and identifies specific species associated with therapy response and resistance.</p>","PeriodicalId":12833,"journal":{"name":"Gut Pathogens","volume":"17 1","pages":"21"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11992761/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143983134","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gut PathogensPub Date : 2025-04-11DOI: 10.1186/s13099-025-00697-1
Cristina García-Salguero, Carlos González-Corralejo, Jose Marroyo Laso, Alberto Delgado-Iribarren García-Campero
{"title":"Acute gastroenteritis due to Arcobacter butzleri: an emerging pathogen.","authors":"Cristina García-Salguero, Carlos González-Corralejo, Jose Marroyo Laso, Alberto Delgado-Iribarren García-Campero","doi":"10.1186/s13099-025-00697-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13099-025-00697-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Arcobacter butzleri is a foodborne pathogen that has been positioned as an emerging cause of bacterial enteritis. It can affect any type of person although vulnerable people are more susceptible. In addition, resistance to several antibiotics has been described, which is a problem for antimicrobial empirical treatment and this makes it a threat to public health.Seven isolates of this pathogen were collected during 2024. Susceptibility studies were performed on first-line antibiotics for the treatment of gastroenteritis in our epidemiological environment. Resistance rates higher than 25% were observed for all antimicrobials tested, except erythromycin. Based on these data, it would be necessary to carry out a study of antimicrobial resistance profile of this microorganism for their treatment and control.</p>","PeriodicalId":12833,"journal":{"name":"Gut Pathogens","volume":"17 1","pages":"22"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11992864/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143994337","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}