Role of gut microbiome in developing necrotizing enterocolitis

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is one of the most devastating intestinal diseases observed in preterm in the first days of life. Researchers have recently focused on potential predictive biomarkers for early and concomitant diagnoses. Thus, we inquired about the linkage of intestinal dysbiosis, one of the most important factors in NEC development to the gut microbiota. In this study, the systematic differences in the bacterial composition between neonates affected by NEC and healthy newborns were highlighted by metagenomic analysis. The next-generation sequencing of the V3-V4 variable region of the 16S rRNA gene and gene-specific qPCR analyzed the untargeted gut microbiota. Total bacteria, total and fecal coliform loads in stool samples with NEC were higher than control. OTU-level relative abundances of NEC infant was characterized by Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes at phylum levels. At the genus level, NEC stool was identified by the lack of Klebsiella and the presence of Roseburia, Blautia, and Parasutterella. Finally, Clostridium fessum was the predominant species of Clostridium genus in disease and healthy specimens at the species level, whereas Clostridium jeddahitimonense was at NEC diagnosis. Despite a strong relationship between pathophysiology and characterization of gut microbiota at a clinical diagnosis of NEC, our results emphasize the broad difficulty in identifying potential biomarkers.