El Mouzan M, Al Sarkhy A, Assiri A. Gut microbiota predicts the diagnosis of ulcerative colitis in Saudi children. World J Clin Pediatr 2024; 13(1): 90755 [PMID: 38596448 DOI: 10.5409/wjcp.v13.i1.90755]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Mohammad El Mouzan, MD, Full Professor, Department of Pediatrics, King Saud University, 1, King Abdullah Street, Riyadh 11461, Saudi Arabia. melmouzan@ksu.edu.sa
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Observational Study
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El Mouzan M, Al Sarkhy A, Assiri A. Gut microbiota predicts the diagnosis of ulcerative colitis in Saudi children. World J Clin Pediatr 2024; 13(1): 90755 [PMID: 38596448 DOI: 10.5409/wjcp.v13.i1.90755]
World J Clin Pediatr. Mar 9, 2024; 13(1): 90755 Published online Mar 9, 2024. doi: 10.5409/wjcp.v13.i1.90755
Gut microbiota predicts the diagnosis of ulcerative colitis in Saudi children
Mohammad El Mouzan, Ahmed Al Sarkhy, Asaad Assiri
Mohammad El Mouzan, Ahmed Al Sarkhy, Asaad Assiri, Department of Pediatrics, Gastroenterology Unit, King Saud University, Riyadh 11461, Saudi Arabia
Author contributions: El Mouzan M designed and supervised the study and wrote the manuscript; Al Sarkhy A and Assiri A participated equally in recruiting participants and revising the manuscript draft; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported byResearchers Supporting Project, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, No. RSPD2024R864.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the Institutional Board Review of the College of Medicine, King Saud University in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [No: 10/2647/IRB,26/6/2010]. Guardians and/or children signed informed consent and/or assent before enrollment in the study.
Informed consent statement: Guardians and/or children signed informed consent and/or assent before enrollment in the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Data sharing statement: Datasets are available from the corresponding author at email: drmouzan@gmail.com.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Corresponding author: Mohammad El Mouzan, MD, Full Professor, Department of Pediatrics, King Saud University, 1, King Abdullah Street, Riyadh 11461, Saudi Arabia. melmouzan@ksu.edu.sa
Received: December 12, 2023 Peer-review started: December 12, 2023 First decision: December 19, 2023 Revised: January 1, 2024 Accepted: February 6, 2024 Article in press: February 6, 2024 Published online: March 9, 2024 Processing time: 85 Days and 8.7 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Microbiota dysbiosis has been reported in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC).
Research motivation
The role of the microbiota in predicting UC has rarely been reported.
Research objectives
To evaluate the predictive power of fecal bacteria and bacteriophages for diagnosing UC in children.
Research methods
Metagenomic analysis of bacterial and bacteriophage DNA in the stool of children with newly diagnosed UC. The area under the curve (AUC) was calculated to evaluate the predictive power of the total bacteria and bacteriophages, and random forest analysis was used to identify important microbes for distinguishing UC patients from controls.
Research results
The discriminatory power of the entire bacterial species (AUC: 89.5%) and bacteriophages (AUC: 87.4%) was very high. The random forest classification algorithm analysis revealed the excellent predictive power of important bacterial species (AUC: 97.6%) and bacteriophages (AUC: 94.5%).
Research conclusions
The very high to excellent AUCs of fecal bacterial and viral species indicate the potential for the development of noninvasive microbiota-based tests for the diagnosis of UC in children. In addition, the identification of important bacteria and bacteriophages whose abundance is reduced in children with UC suggests the potential of preventive and adjuvant microbial therapy for UC.
Research perspectives
Future research in this area with larger sample sizes is needed to clarify the role of the microbiota in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of UC.
