RT Journal Article
T1 Characterization of the gut microbiome of patients with Clostridioides difficile infection, patients with non–C. difficile diarrhea, and C. difficile–colonized patients
A1 Vázquez Cuesta, Silvia
A1 Villar, Laura
A1 García Lozano, Nuria
A1 Fernández, Ana I.
A1 Olmedo, María
A1 Alcalá, Luis
A1 Marín Arriaza, María De Las Mercedes
A1 Muñoz García, Patricia Carmen
A1 Bouza Santiago, Emilio
A1 Reigadas Ramírez, Elena Manuela
AB IntroductionClostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is the main cause of nosocomial diarrhea in developed countries. A key challenge in CDI is the lack of objective methods to ensure more accurate diagnosis, especially when differentiating between true infection and colonization/diarrhea of other causes. The main objective of this study was to explore the role of the microbiome as a predictive biomarker of CDI.MethodsBetween 2018 and 2021, we prospectively included patients with CDI, recurrent CDI (R-CDI), non-CDI diarrhea (NO-CDI), colonization by C. difficile, and healthy individuals. Clinical data and fecal samples were collected. The microbiome was analyzed by sequencing the hypervariable V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene on an Illumina Miseq platform. The mothur bioinformatic pipeline was followed for pre-processing of raw data, and mothur and R were used for data analysis.ResultsDuring the study period, 753 samples from 657 patients were analyzed. Of these, 247 were from patients with CDI, 43 were from patients colonized with C. difficile, 63 were from healthy individuals, 324 were from NOCDI, and 76 were from R-CDI. We found significant differences across the groups in alpha and beta diversity and in taxonomic abundance. We identified various genera as the most significant biomarkers for CDI (Bacteroides, Proteus, Paraprevotella, Robinsoniella), R-CDI (Veillonella, Fusobacterium, Lactobacillus, Clostridium sensu stricto I), and colonization by C. difficile (Parabacteroides, Faecalicoccus, Flavonifractor, Clostridium XVIII).DiscussionWe observed differences in microbiome patterns between healthy individuals, colonized patients, CDI, R-CDI, and NOCDI diarrhea. We identified possible microbiome biomarkers that could prove useful in the diagnosis of true CDI infections. Further studies are warranted.
PB Frontiers Media
YR 2023
FD 2023-04
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/124126
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/124126
LA eng
NO Vázquez-Cuesta S, Villar L, García NL, Fernández AI, Olmedo M, Alcalá L, Marín M, Muñoz P, Bouza E, Reigadas E. Characterization of the gut microbiome of patients with Clostridioides difficile infection, patients with non–C. difficile diarrhea, and C. difficile–colonized patients. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2023;13:1130701. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2023.1130701.
NO Funding:This study was funded by Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (FIS), Research Project number PI16/00490 and PI20/01381, PFIS grant number FI21/00310, and by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) “A way of making Europe”.
NO European Commission
NO Instituto de Salud Carlos III
NO Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
DS Docta Complutense
RD 19 dic 2025