Altered Gut Microbiota Diversity and Composition in Chronic Urticaria

BACKGROUND: The pathogenesis of chronic urticaria (CU) is closely related to imbalances in immunity. The gastrointestinal microflora provides a vast and continuous stimulation for the immune system. However, the composition and diversity of gut microflora in CU patients are rarely reported. METHODS: 10 CU patients and 10 healthy individuals were selected in this study, and their intestinal microbiome was detected by 16S rRNA sequencing. The data were analyzed using R language software. RESULTS: 392 bacterial OTUs were common in the CU and healthy groups, but there were 159 OTUs particularly existing in the CU group, while 87 OTUs only were observed in healthy individuals. The bacterial diversity was reduced in CU patients compared with healthy individuals. The principal component analysis (PCA) and principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) revealed that the bacterial cluster in CU patients and the healthy controls were divided into different branches. Pathogenic strains including Escherichia coli were significantly higher in CU, while Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Prevotella copri, and Bacteroides sp. were significantly lower in CU when compared with the healthy controls. CU patients with a high abundance of Escherichia coli had no ideal effect for probiotic therapy. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrated that the microbial composition was significantly different between CU patients and the healthy individual, which may be the reason leading to the various outcomes of probiotic treatment.