Characterization of biliary microbiota dysbiosis in acute cholecystitis: A reduction in the biodiversity of the bile microbiome

Abstract Background Previous studies have shown that bacterial infections are closely associated with most common biliary diseases, such as biliary tract infection and gallbladder stone formation. Acute cholecystitis usually occurs in patients with acute infections of the biliary system, and severe infections can easily lead to life-threatening sepsis. This study explored the structural differences in the bile microbiome in patients with acute and chronic cholecystitis and the relationship with acute and chronic cholecystitis. Results A total of 18 patients in the acute cholecystitis group and 8 patients in the control group were enrolled in the analysis. The composition of the biliary microbiota significantly differed between acute cholecystitis patients and chronic cholecystitis controls. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that the microbial communities obtained from the chronic cholecystitis controls clustered separately from those from the acute cholecystitis patients. We observed that many kinds of bacteria, such as Burkholderia, Bradyrhizobium, Phreatobacter and Comamonas, were significantly higher in chronic cholecystitis controls than in acute cholecystitis patients. Conclusions The diversity of the bile microbiome in patients with acute cholecystitis is lower than that in patients with chronic cholecystitis. Patients with acute cholecystitis may have a bile microbial imbalance that might related to acute infections.