AUTHOR=Xue Aijuan , Qian Xiaowen , Gao Xuefeng , Wang Ping , Wang Lin , Zheng Cuifang , Huang Zhiheng , Hu Wenhui , Shi Jieru , Huang Ying 

TITLE=Fecal Microbial Signatures Are Associated With Engraftment Failure Following Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation in Pediatric Crohn’s Disease Patients With IL10RA Deficiency

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pharmacology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2020.580817

DOI=10.3389/fphar.2020.580817

ISSN=1663-9812

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objectives</title><p>Umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT) is associated with a relatively high rate of engraftment failure. This study aimed at exploring whether any fecal microbiota could be associated with engraftment failure following UCBT in Crohn’s disease patients with <italic>IL10RA</italic> deficiency.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Thirteen patients were recruited and their 230 fecal samples were collected longitudinally from immediately before conditioning chemotherapy to 8 weeks post the UCBT. The V3-V4 regions of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene were amplified by PCR and sequenced, followed by bioinformatics analyses.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Following the UCBT, 7 out of 13 patients achieved neutrophil and platelet engraftment with a median of 21 and 28 days, respectively (S group), while 6 patients failed to achieve engraftment (F group). In comparison with that in the S group, significantly lower Shannon diversity values on the UCBT day (<italic>P</italic> = 0.0176) and less abundance of <italic>Bifidobacterium longum</italic>, <italic>Bifidobacterium pseudolongum</italic>, <italic>Enterobacteriaceae_538000</italic>, and one taxon of <italic>Lachnospiraceae</italic> family was detected in the F group, accompanied by significantly higher abundances of four taxa including <italic>Lautropia</italic>, <italic>Pseudomonas</italic>, and species <italic>Microvirgula aerodenitrificans</italic> during the chemotherapy period as well as UCBT. The abundances of thirty OTUs were correlated significantly with clinical indices.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions</title><p>Microbial indicators of reduced diversity of microbiota and signatures of specific bacterial abundances, such as a lower abundance of <italic>Bifidobacterium longum</italic>, for engraftment failure would require validation. These indicators may help for the risk stratification in patients with <italic>IL10RA</italic> deficiency undergoing UCBT.</p></sec>