The fungal microbiome of the colon provides new opportunities for assessing the prediction of remission and the effectiveness of ulcerative colitis therapy

Abstract

Objective: to study the taxonomic composition of the colonic fungal microbiota in patients with UC and to develop a model for predicting the effectiveness of therapy based on the presence of fungal microorganisms. Materials and methods: 128 patients with UC — 86 patients in the phase of UC relapse and 42 patients in the phase of remission — were included in the study. The patients were ranked into groups depending on the clinic phase, activity and severity of the disease. The patients' coprofiltrate was examined by NGS sequencing of 18S ribosomal RNA to determine the taxonomic composition of the fungal microbiota of the colon. Results: the mycobiotic landscape of the colon of patients with UC was characterised by the presence of both classical representatives of fungal flora — Candida, Malassezia, Saccharomyces, Penicillium, and unicellular protozoa — Blastocystis, in particular species of Blastocystis_hominis and Dientamoeba_fragilis — colonisers of the intestinal microbiome with pathogenic properties and associated with inflammatory bowel disorder. Based on the data on the percentage of detected fungal genera, a model for the efficacy of conservative therapy of UC was developed. Conclusion: the fungal profile of the colonic microbiota in patients with UC can be considered as a potential diagnostic tool, and the model of remission prediction based on microorganism representation can be considered as a promising method of disease course control.