Intestinal Microbiota in Patients with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Despite evidence that the intestinal microbiota (IM) is involved in the pathogenesis of obesity, the IM composition of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has not been well characterized. This prospective, cross-sectional study was aimed at identifying differences in IM between adults with biopsy-proven NAFLD (simple steatosis [SS] or non-alcoholic steatohepatitis [NASH]) and living liver donors as healthy controls (HC). Fifty subjects were included: 11 SS, 22 NASH and 17 HC. One stool sample was collected from each participant. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to measure total bacterial counts, Bacteroides/Prevotella (here on referred to as Bacteroidetes), C. leptum, C. coccoides, bifidobacteria, E. coli and Archaea in stool. Clinical and laboratory data, food-records, and activity logs were collected. Patients with NASH had a lower percentage of Bacteroidetes (Bacteroidetes to total bacteria counts) compared to both SS and HC (p=0.006) and higher fecal C. coccoides compared to those with SS (p=0.04). There were no differences in the remaining microorganisms. As body mass index (BMI) and dietary fat intake differed between the groups (p