Changes of Intestinal Flora and Lymphocyte Subsets in Patients with Chronic Renal Failure

OBJECTIVE: To explore the changes of intestinal flora and lymphocyte subsets in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF). METHODS: 60 CRF patients who were treated from June 2018 to June 2019 were selected; 60 healthy persons were selected as the control group. 16S rDNA was used to detect the expression of Lactobacillus, Enterobacteriaceae, Enterococcus, Bacteroides, Clostridium, and Bifidobacterium in the feces of the two groups. Illumina Miseq sequencing (Solexa sequencing technology) method was used to analyze the structural differences and species diversity of intestinal flora, including species richness index (Chao) and diversity index (Shannon, Simpson). Flow cytometry was used to detect the levels of lymphocytes and their subgroups of the two groups. Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between Chao and lymphocyte subsets. RESULTS: The number of Enterobacteriaceae and Enterococcus in CRF group were higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05), while the Lactobacillus, Bacteroides, Clostridium, and Bifidobacterium were opposite (P < 0.05). The Simpson index of the CRF group was lower than that of the control group, while the Chao index and Shannon index were opposite (P < 0.05). The levels of CD3(+), CD4(+), CD8(+), and CD4(+)/CD8(+) in the CRF group were lower than those in the control group, while the levels of CD14(+), CD19(+), and CD16(+)/CD56(+) were opposite (P < 0.05). The intestinal flora Chao index of CRF group was negatively correlated with the levels of CD3(+), CD4(+), and CD8(+) (r = −0.692, P=0.019; r = −0.669, P=0.021; r = −0.603, P=0.028). The intestinal flora Chao of CRF group is positively correlated with the level of CD14(+) and CD16(+)/CD56(+) (r = 0.615, P=0.026; r = 0.758, P=0.016). CONCLUSION: There are intestinal flora disorder and the imbalance of immune function in CRF patients, which are mainly manifested in the change of intestinal flora structure, the increase of richness and diversity of intestinal flora, and the decrease of lymphocyte subgroups. There is correlation between the imbalance of intestinal colony and the imbalance of immune function.