Abstract:

Fecal samples of 13 patients (7 patients with alveolar echinococcosis, 6 patients with cystic echinococcosis as infected group) and 13 healthy family members caring for patients (as control group) were collected in the Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery of Qinghai University Affiliated Hospital from October to December in 2020. The fecal DNA was extracted and the concentration was determined, and the cDNA library was synthesized by reverse transcription, and then sequenced using the metagenomic next generation sequencing. The metagenome second-generation sequencing was used to observe the changes of intestinal flora. Linear discriminant analysis was used to analyse the differences in intestinal flora between echinococcosis patients and healthy controls. The results revealed that the flora with higher relative abundance in the alveolar echinococcosis group were Alistipes onderdonkii, Bacteroides dorei, A. finegoldii, and the flora with higher relative abundance in the cystic echinococcosis group were A. shahii, Methanobrevibacter smithii, Streptococcus vestibularis. In the healthy individuals group, there were high relative abundance of B. caccae, Bifidobacterium adolescentis, Phascolarctobacterium succinatutens. Among them, A. onderdonkii, A. shahii and B. caccae are more meaningful flora. The differential flora in this study may be the intestinal microbial marker of echinococcosis, which deserves further to study.

Key words: Echinococcosis, Gut Microbiome, Diversity, Metagenomic next generation sequencing