Different immunization methods lead to altered gut flora and varied responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection...

Vaccination is an essential means for prevention of tuberculosis infection, but the effects of various vaccines on the intestinal flora of mice and their response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection remain poorly understood.

In this study, two different vaccinations - ESAT6 and ESAT6 + TLR8 agonists - were administered to mice transgenic for human TLR8 to investigate gut microbiota characteristics following vaccination. Gut microbiota was investigated by next generation sequencing in the MiSeq Sequencing System. Adonis analysis was used to evaluate the effect of variables on gut bacterial community stucture. Chao1, Shannon index, and phylogenetic diversity index were used to explore the gut bacterial diversity.

The results showed that different vaccines have significant influence on mice intestinal bacteria (adonis analysis, p < 0.01), with gut bacterial diversity within the ESAT6 + TLR8 agonists group being significantly decreased compared to the ESAT6 treatment group (p < 0.01). Following infection with Mtb via tail vein injection, the bacterial community structure within the control versus vaccinated groups altered significantly (adonis analysis, p < 0.01), and the altered changed genera were markedly different between the groups. Following infection, Bifidobacteria differed between the groups, indicated that they play a vital role in the response to infection.

Our results indicated that different vaccines might have distinct influences on intestinal flora, and their role should not be ignored.