Mucosa-associated gut microbiota reflects clinical course of ulcerative colitis

This longitudinal study was designed to elucidate whether gut microbiota is associated with relapse and treatment response in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients. Fifty-one patients with UC were enrolled between 2012 and 2017, and followed up through 2020. Colon mucosal biopsy were obtained at enrollment, and 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing was performed using extracted RNA. Of the 51 patients, 24 were in remission and 27 had active UC at enrollment. Of the 24 patients in remission, 17 maintained remission and 7 developed relapse during follow-up. The 7 patients with relapse showed lower diversity, with a lower proportion of Clostridiales (p = 0.0043), and a higher proportion of Bacteroides (p = 0.047) at enrollment than those without relapse. The 27 patients with active UC were classified into response (n = 6), refractory (n = 13), and non-response (n = 8) groups according to their treatment response in 6 months. The refractory and non-response groups showed lower diversity with a lower proportion of Prevotella (p = 0.048 and 0.043) at enrollment than the response group. This study is the first demonstration that reduced diversity and particular microbes are associated with the later clinical course of relapse events and treatment response in UC.