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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Microbial Immunology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1442677
This article is part of the Research Topic Epigenetics in the microbiome-host crosstalk: from mechanisms to Therapeutics View all 8 articles

Study on the gut microbiota, HPA, and cytokine levels in Infantile Spasms

Provisionally accepted
Jiajia You Jiajia You 1Li Liu Li Liu 1Xiongfeng Pan Xiongfeng Pan 2Liwen Wu Liwen Wu 3Lihong Tan Lihong Tan 3Changci Zhou Changci Zhou 1方 思伟 方 思伟 1Zhenghui Xiao Zhenghui Xiao 4Jun Qiu Jun Qiu 2*
  • 1 University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan Province, China
  • 2 Pediatrics Research Institute of Hunan Province, Hunan Children's Hospital, Changsha, Anhui Province, China
  • 3 Department of Neurology, Hunan Children’s Hospital, Changsha, Anhui Province, China
  • 4 Department of Emergency Medicine, Hunan Children's Hospital, Changsha, Hunan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The mechanisms driving infantile spasms progression are not well understood, we aim to investigate the changes and correlations in the gut microbiota, hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis hormones, and inflammatory cytokines in children with infantile spasms before and after treatment to offer a reference for future pathogenesis research.Children with infantile spasms admitted to our hospital were recruited into the case group. The case group was divided into pre-treatment group (Group A, n=14), 2 weeks after treatment group (Group B), and 1 month after treatment group (Group C). Whereas healthy children with the same sex ratio as the case group were recruited into the control group (Group D, n=14). Three stool samples and blood samples were collected before treatment, 2 weeks after treatment and 1 month after treatment. The serum samples were analyzed by cytometric bead array (CBA), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA) to measure the levels of hypothalamus- pituitary-adrenal axis hormones and cytokines. The collected stool samples were sequenced by 16S rDNA.Results: Pre-treatment group demonstrated elevated corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), IL2, IL4, IL6, IL17α，and these decrease with treatment. Level of CRH was lower in effective group than that in the ineffective group. Sutterellaceae in the pre-treatment group was lower than that in the control group. Lachnospiracea_incertae_sedis was positively associated CRH concentration (P ＜ 0.05). Sutterellaceae after treatment was negatively associated with IL-2 and TNF-α(P＜0.05).Our study found that imbalance of the gut microbiota may be involved in the pathogenesis of infantile spasms and is related to response to adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). Lachnospiraceae and Lachnospiracea_incertae_sedis might get involved in the disease onset. Sutterellaceae might be linked to children's improved health.

    Keywords: Gut Microbiota, Infantile spasm, Cytokines, Hormones, correlations

    Received: 02 Jun 2024; Accepted: 03 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 You, Liu, Pan, Wu, Tan, Zhou, 思伟, Xiao and Qiu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jun Qiu, Pediatrics Research Institute of Hunan Province, Hunan Children's Hospital, Changsha, Anhui Province, China

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