Differences in Gut Microbiome Profile between Healthy Children and Children with Inflammatory Bowel Disease and/or Autoimmune Liver Disease: A Case-Control Study

Abstract

Background: The role of gastrointestinal microbiome in health and disease is increasingly appreciated. A significant amount of evidence clearly points to a dysbiosis manifest in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) when compared to healthy controls. Less understood is the microbiome profile in autoimmune liver disease (AILD). Both adult and paediatric data indicate a distinct microbial signature in patients with IBD and co-existent primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), which is unique and different compared to the microbial signature that exists in patients with IBD alone. However, there is limited information on the microbiome make-up of patients with parenchymal liver disease, with or without IBD. Methods: The present study sought to compare the microbiome of children with IBD, to those with IBD-AILD, those with AILD alone and those of healthy controls. Results: Results from this work indicate that children with AILD have a microbiome profile that mirrors healthy controls. Conclusion: Those with IBD-AILD and IBD have similar microbiome profiles which are distinct from AILD alone and healthy controls. This suggests that the dysbiosis in these groups is primarily due to IBD rather than AILD.