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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Med.
Sec. Gastroenterology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1514587
This article is part of the Research Topic Gastrointestinal Tract Infections: A Global Perspective View all 18 articles

A preliminary study of the association between Blastocystis and quantification of selected yeasts in IBD and IBS patients

Provisionally accepted
Zohre Khosravany Zohre Khosravany 1Sadegh Khodavaisy Sadegh Khodavaisy 1Alireza Olyaiee Alireza Olyaiee 2Amir Sadeghi Amir Sadeghi 3Sara NZemati Sara NZemati 3Shabnam Shahrokh Shabnam Shahrokh 3Sara Mohammad Ali Gol Sara Mohammad Ali Gol 3Sajad Shojaei Sajad Shojaei 3Hanieh Mohammad Rahimi Hanieh Mohammad Rahimi 3Hamed Mirjalali Hamed Mirjalali 3*
  • 1 Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Tehran, Iran
  • 2 Islamic Azad University, shahre kord, Iran
  • 3 Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

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

    Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are gastrointestinal disorders, which the gut microbiota dysbiosis can trigger. Development of IBS-like symptoms has been linked to the overgrowth of Candida spp.. In addition, the critical role of fungi has been highlighted in the pathogenesis of IBD. This study investigated the association between Blastocystis and selected yeasts in IBS and IBD patients. This is a cross-sectional study from 2022-2024, performed on 91 participants, including 20 healthy individuals, 27 patients with IBS, and 44 IBD patients (39 with Ulcerative Colitis (UC; 88.63%) and 5 (11.37%) Crohn’s Disease (CD)), who were also categorized based on the presence of Blastocystis. Total DNA was extracted from stool samples, and the presence and quantity of yeasts including C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. glabrata, C. parapsilosis, C. krusei, Geotrichum candidum, Rhodotorula spp., Cryptococcus neoformans, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were evaluated by real-time PCR. Statistical tests were employed to assess significant associations between variables. Saccharomyces cerevisiae and C. albicans were the most prevalent yeasts in all groups. Candida tropicalis and C. neoformans were identified in neither patients nor healthy subjects. The presence/absence of C. albicans was not significantly different between patients with IBD, IBS, and the control groups. This was similar for G. candidum. However, there was a difference in the presence of S. cerevisiae among patients, although it was insignificant (P-value =0.077). There was a significant difference in the quantity of C. albicans between IBD (880.421 ± 2140.504), IBS (10.307 ± 15.206), and controls (2875.888 ± 8383.889) (P-value = 0.020). Specifically, the source of difference was seen between IBD patients and the control group (P-value = 0.005). In addition, considering the presence of Blastocystis, a statistically significant association was seen between the number of C. albicans and the sample groups (P-value = 0.013). The quantity of C. albicans was significantly different between IBS and IBD patients. Regarding the presence of Blastocystis, the quantity of C. albicans and S. cerevisiae was increased and decreased in the studied groups, respectively. This is a preliminary study, and eukaryote-eukaryote association in IBS and IBD patients should be considered in further studies.

    Keywords: Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, calprotectin, Mycobiome, Blastocystis, Candida albicans, Saccharomyces cerevisiae

    Received: 21 Oct 2024; Accepted: 17 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Khosravany, Khodavaisy, Olyaiee, Sadeghi, NZemati, Shahrokh, Mohammad Ali Gol, Shojaei, Mohammad Rahimi and Mirjalali. 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: Hamed Mirjalali, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

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