Gut microbiota in autoimmune and non-autoimmune liver diseases in children

Relevance. The influence of the gut microbiota on the development of various diseases is of great interest to researchers. The conducted studies showed that in patients with chronic liver diseases, the dominant taxa of the gut microbiota were Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium adolescentis, Blautia massiliensis, and in healthy children - Neisseria flavescens. There is no comparative analysis of data on the taxonomic diversity of the intestinal microbiota in autoimmune and non-autoimmune liver diseases in children. Purpose of the study. To investigate differences in the taxonomic diversity of fecal microbiota in patients with autoimmune and non-autoimmune liver diseases, as well as to evaluate potential biomarkers of 16S rRNA gene amplicons in these diseases by comparing the taxonomic composition. Scope and methods of research. A metagenomic analysis of the intestinal microbiota of 24 children with chronic liver diseases (mean age 10.3±4.7 years) was carried out with the identification of the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. The group included 18 children with autoimmune liver diseases and 6 children with non-autoimmune liver diseases. Research results. The conducted study revealed 684 types of microorganisms in the studied samples of patients’ faeces. The analysis of the conducted studies showed that no dominant taxa were found in the faecal samples of children with autoimmune liver diseases, while Veillonella dispar, Veillonella parvula, Cloacibacillus porcorum, Prevotella histicola and Bacteroides eggerthii were the dominant taxa in patients with non-autoimmune liver diseases. Conclusion. Studies have shown differences in the composition of the gut microbiota in children with autoimmune and non-autoimmune liver diseases.