AUTHOR=Cao Wenjie , Zheng Cihua , Xu Xuan , Jin Rui , Huang Feng , Shi Meng , He Zhipeng , Luo Yufeng , Liu Lulin , Liu Zhaoxia , Wei Jing , Deng Xiaorong , Chen Tingtao 

TITLE=Clostridium butyricum potentially improves inflammation and immunity through alteration of the microbiota and metabolism of gastric cancer patients after gastrectomy

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.1076245

DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2022.1076245

ISSN=1664-3224

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>Gastrectomy is the most effective treatment to improve the clinical survival rate of patients with gastric cancer. However, the pathophysiological changes caused by gastrectomy have seriously affected the postoperative recovery.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>In the present trial, Ataining (containing <italic>C. butyricum</italic>, CGMCC0313.1) was applied in patients after gastrectomy to investigate the effect of <italic>C. butyricum</italic> on the early postoperative recovery by monitoring the inflammatory immune response with blood indicators, detecting the gut microbiota with high-throughput sequencing, and analyzing the short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) with targeted metabolomics. This study is registered with the number ChiCTR2000040915.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Our outcomes revealed that <italic>C. butyricum</italic> had significantly reduced the number of Leucocyte (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.001), the percentage of Neutrophil (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.001), the expression of IL-1β (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.01), IL-6 (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05), and TNF-α (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.01), while markedly enhanced the immunity indexes (immunoglobulin and lymphocyte) (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05) and nutrition indexes (albumin and total protein) (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05). In addition, the use of the <italic>C. butyricum</italic> greatly enriched the relative abundance of beneficial bacteria <italic>Bacteroides</italic>, <italic>Faecalibacterium</italic> and <italic>Gemmiger</italic>, while the abundance of pathogenic <italic>Streptococcus</italic>, <italic>Desulfovibrio</italic> and <italic>Actinomyces</italic> were markedly decreased at genus level. We also observed significant up-regulation of SCFAs, including acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid and isobutyric acid, after <italic>C. butyricum</italic> administration in patients receiving gastrectomy.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Therefore, evidence supported that oral administration of <italic>C. butyricum</italic> after gastrectomy can reduce early postoperative inflammation, enhance immune ability, restore intestinal microbiota eubiosis, increase intestinal SCFAs, reduce the occurrence of postoperative complications, and ultimately promote the early recovery of the patient.</p></sec><sec><title>Clinical trial registration</title><p><uri xlink:href="http://www.chictr.org.cn/" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">http://www.chictr.org.cn/</uri>, identifier (ChiCTR2000040915).</p></sec>