Study of the gut microbiome profile in full-term infants with necrotizing enterocolits

doi:10.5409/wjcp.v15.i2.112551

Advanced Search

BPG is committed to discovery and dissemination of knowledge

Home / Archive / Volume 15, Issue 2

This Article

(0) (0) (0)

Peer-Review Report of This Article

CrossCheck and Google Search of This Article

Academic Rules and Norms of This Article

Citation of this article

Corresponding Author of This Article

Research Domain of This Article

Article-Type of This Article

Open-Access Policy of This Article

Times Cited Counts in Google of This Article

Number of Hits and Downloads for This Article

Total Article Views (70)

All Articles published online

Item

Count

PDF

HTML

Figures (1-1)

Tables (1-4)

Sum=44

Publishing Process of This Article

Item

Count

Browse

Download

Sum=18

Jun 9, 2026 (publication date) through May 16, 2026

Times Cited of This Article

Times Cited (0)

Journal Information of This Article

Publication Name

World Journal of Clinical Pediatrics

ISSN

2219-2808

Publisher of This Article

Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA

Case Control Study

Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.

World J Clin Pediatr. Jun 9, 2026; 15(2): 112551
Published online Jun 9, 2026. doi: 10.5409/wjcp.v15.i2.112551

Table 1 Primers used in the present study

Target	Primer name	Primer sequence (5’-3’)	Ref.
Lactobacillus plantarum	L. plantarum; FL. plantarum R	ATTCATAGTCTAGTTGGAGGT; CCTGAACTGAGAGAATTTGA	[14]
Lactobacillus reuteri	L. reuteri F; L. reuteri R	GAAGATCAGTCGCAYTGGCCCAA; TCCATTGTGGCCGATCAG	[14]
Bifidobacterium longum	B. longum F; B. longum R	CAG TTG ATC GCA TGG TCT T; TAC CCG TCG AAG CCA C	[14]
Total bacteria	UnivF; UnivR	TCCTACGGGAGGCAGCAGT; GGACTACCAGGGTATCTATCCTGTT	[15]
Akkermansia muciniphila	AM1-F; AM2-R	CAG CAC GTG AAG GTG GGG AC; CCT TGC GGT TGG CTT CAG AT	[16]
Bacteroides	B3F; B3R	CGATGGATAGGGGTTCTGAGAGGA; GCTGGCACGGAGTTAGCCGA	[17]
Bacteroidetes	Bact934F; Bact1060R	GGARCATGTGGTTTATTCGATGAT; AGCTGACGACAACCATGCAG	[17]
Firmicutes	Firm934F; Firm1060R	GGAGYATGTGGTTTAATTCGAAGCA; AGCTGACGACAACCATGCAC	[17]
Bacteroides fragilis	Bact F; Bact R	GAA AGC ATT AAG TAT TCC ACC TG; CGG TGA TTG GTC ACT GAC A	[18]
Bifidobacterium	Bif-F; Bif-R	TCGCGTC(C/T)GGTGTGAAAG; CCACATCCAGC(A/G)TCCAC	[19]
Faecalibacterium prausnitzii	FPR-2F; Fprau645R	GGAGGAAGAAGGTCTTCGG; AATTCCGCCTACCTCTGCACT	[19]
Prevotella	PrevF; PrevR	CACCAAGGCGACGATCA; GGATAACGCCYGGACCT	[17]
Lactobacilli	Lacto-F; Lacto-R	AGCAGTAGGGAATCTTCCA; CACCGCTACACATGGAG	[19]
Ruminococcus	Rflbr730F; Clep866mR	GGCGGCYTRCTGGGCTTT; CCAGGTGGATWACTTATTGTGTTAA	[20]
Clostridioides difficile	C. diff F; C. diff R	TTGAGCGATTTACTT CGGTAAAGA; TGTACTGGCTCACCTTTGATATTCA	[21]
Escherichia coli	E. coli F; E. coli R	CATGCCGCGTGTATGAAGAA; CGGGTAACGTCAATGAGCAAA	[22]

Full Size Table

Table 2 Demographic and clinical data of the participants

	NEC	Control
	10	6
Age (months)
Minimum-maximum	3-19	3-21
Mean	12.1	12.6
Sex
Male	4	3
Female	6	3
Mode of delivery
Normal	1	3
Cesarean section	9	3
Feeding
Breast-fed	6	6
Formula-fed	4	0
Weaning	1	1
Food introduction	9	5
Age of introduction (months)
Minimum-maximum	4-12	6-8
Mean	7.11	6.8
Eating duration (months)
Minimum-maximum	1-11	3-14
Mean	6	7.8
Type of food
Rice	6	3
Boiled potato	5	3
Boiled zucchini	3	3
Boiled carrot	1	1
Full cream milk	1	1
Yogurt	2	2
Cerelac (wheat)	2	2
Biscuit	2	2
Homemade food	3	3
Cooked jute mallow	1	2
Boiled egg	1	2
Clinical presentation
Vomiting	9	N/A
Fever	6	N/A
Diarrhea	10	N/A
Anorexia	2	N/A
Lethargy	1	N/A
Dehydration	1	N/A

NEC: Necrotizing enterocolitis; N/A: Not applicable.

Full Size Table

Table 3 Comparison of the gut microbiome between necrotizing enterocolitis patients and controls

Bacteria	NEC	Control	P value	Rank-biserial correlation
Firmicutes			0.492	-0.233
Minimum-maximum	1.89E-01-8.98E-01	1.97E-02-6.01E-01
Median	5.23E-01	4.01E-01
IQR	2.98E-01-6.92E-01	3.12E-01-5.49E-01
Bacteroidetes			0.118	+0.5
Minimum-maximum	1.52E-02-6.84E-01	4.47E-02-7.72E-01
Median	1.10E-01	3.48E-01
IQR	4.19E-02-1.82E-01	2.04E-01-5.45E-01
F/B			0.118	-0.5
Minimum-maximum	0.31-35.79	0.05-6.78
Median	5.42	1.25
IQR	2.31-10.84	0.52-3.25
Prevotella			0.713	+0.133
Minimum-maximum	1.47E-03-1.00E-01	3.06E-04-6.22E-01
Median	6.95E-03	8.33E-02
IQR	4.19E-02-1.82E-01	2.04E-01-5.45E-01
Bacteroides			0.147	+0.467
Minimum-maximum	5.66E-03-6.02E-01	1.64E-02-5.92E-01
Median	4.24E-02	2.17E-01
IQR	3.98E-03-2.86E-02	2.66E-03-2.31E-01
P/B			0.713	+0.133
Minimum-maximum	0.003-0.80	0.001-3.49
Median	0.48	0.51
IQR	0.17-0.64	0.07-1.08
Ruminococcus			0.956	+0.033
Minimum-maximum	0.00E+00-3.41E-02	0.00E+00-6.48E-03
Median	1.11E-03	2.80E-03
IQR	6.38E-06-5.42E-03	6.55E-04-4.43E-03
Lactobacilli			0.875	+0.067
Minimum-maximum	1.34E-02-4.45E-01	1.22E-04-4.87E-01
Median	1.55E-01	2.37E-01
IQR	6.43E-02-2.51E-01	3.79E-02-4.30E-01
Bifidobacteria			0.875	-0.067
Minimum-maximum	8.89E-04-5.58E-01	4.51E-03-1.95E-01
Median	1.24E-01	1.11E-01
IQR	3.92E-03-1.71E-01	9.32E-02-1.24E-01
Akkermancia muciniphila			0.669	-0.117
Minimum-maximum	0.00E+00-8.95E-02	0.00E+00-2.80E-03
Median	0.00E+00	0.00E+00
IQR	0.00E+00-1.17E-05	0.00E+00-0.00E+00
Faecalibacterium prausnitzii			0.492	+0.233
Minimum-maximum	5.37E-04-3.81E-01	0.00E+00-2.54E-01
Median	2.43E-02	8.53E-02
IQR	3.25E-03-3.47E-02	1.50E-02-1.84E-01
Clostridium difficile			-	-
Minimum-maximum	0.00E+00-0.00E+00	0.00E+00-0.00E+00
Median	0.00E+00	0.00E+00
IQR	0.00E+00-0.00E+00	0.00E+00-0.00E+00
Escherichia coli			0.428	-0.267
Minimum-maximum	1.59E-01-8.63E-01	2.15E-02-4.13E-01
Median	3.63E-01	2.84E-01
IQR	2.39E-01-5.90E-01	2.12E-01-3.77E-01
Bacteroides fragilis			0.697	+0.133
Minimum-maximum	0.00E+00-3.00E-01	0.00E+00-3.21E-01
Median	2.43E-03	1.54E-02
IQR	0.00E+00-4.54E-02	2.55E-03-2.63E-02
Lactobacillus reuteri			0.850	+0.05
Minimum-maximum	0.00E+00-1.73E-05	0.00E+00-1.64E-05
Median	0.00E+00	0.00E+00
IQR	0.00E+00-0.00E+00	0.00E+00-0.00E+00
Lactobacillus plantarum			0.947	+0.033
Minimum-maximum	0.00E+00-2.17E-02	0.00E+00-4.81E-03
Median	0.00E+00	0.00E+00
IQR	0.00E+00-2.82E-05	0.00E+00-3.86E-05
Bifidobacterium longum			0.745	-0.117
Minimum-maximum	0.00E+00-2.06E-01	0.00E+00-4.27E-02
Median	1.43E-02	1.64E-02
IQR	3.74E-04-8.09E-02	3.90E-03-2.58E-02
Diversity index			0.092^a	+0.533
Minimum-maximum	1.00-1.94	1.60-1.95
mean ± SD	1.529 ± 0.286	1.787 ± 0.147
Median	1.49	1.8
IQR	1.43-1.76	1.68-1.90
Dissimilarity index			-	-
Minimum-maximum	32%-47%	-
mean ± SD	40.100% ± 4.701%	-
Median	40.5%	-

^aP ≤ 0.10 was considered statistically significant.

P value was calculated via the Mann-Whitney test. Rank-biserial correlation: ± 0.00-0.09 (irrelevant), ± 0.10-0.29 (small effect), ± 0.30-0.49 (moderate effect), and ≥ ± 0.50 (large effect)[23]. Negative sign in rank-biserial correlation: Higher rank in the necrotizing enterocolitis group. Positive sign in rank-biserial correlation: Higher rank in control group. NEC: Necrotizing enterocolitis; IQR: Inter quartile range; F/B: Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes; P/B: Prevotella/Bifidobacteria.

Full Size Table

Table 4 Comparison of the gut microbiome between breast- and formula-fed necrotizing enterocolitis patients and controls

Bacteria	NEC breastfed	NEC formula-fed	Control	P value	Epsilon squared (ε²)
Firmicutes				0.288	0.038
Minimum-maximum	1.89E-01-6.97E-01	3.17E-01-8.98E-01	1.97E-02-6.01E-01
Median	3.96E-01	6.23E-01	4.01E-01
IQR	2.32E-01-6.32E-01	4.87E-01-7.50E-01	3.12E-01-5.49E-01
Bacteroidetes				0.148	0.14
Minimum-maximum	4.14E-02-6.84E-01	1.52E-02-1.86E-01	4.47E-02-7.72E-01
Median	1.23E-01	9.12E-02	3.48E-01
IQR	5.18E-02-4.04E-01	3.34E-02-1.54E-01	2.04E-01-5.45E-01
F/B				0.148	0.14
Minimum-maximum	0.31-11.52	1.70-35.79	0.05-6.78
Median	4.34	12.04	1.25
IQR	1.48-7.74	5.14-22.29	0.52-3.25
Prevotella				0.749	0.00
Minimum-maximum	1.47E-03-3.41E-02	3.70E-03-1.00E-01	3.06E-04-6.22E-01
Median	6.95E-03	2.14E-02	8.33E-02
IQR	4.05E-03-1.08E-02	4.53E-03-5.35E-02	2.66E-03-2.31E-01
Bacteroides				0.299	0.032
Minimum-maximum	5.66E-03-6.02E-01	1.31E-02-1.51E-01	1.64E-02-5.92E-01
Median	4.00E-02	5.12E-02	2.17E-01
IQR	1.35E-02-3.41E-01	2.98E-02-8.81E-02	1.86E-01-2.55E-01
P/B				0.894	0.00
Minimum-maximum	0.003-0.80	0.14-0.66	0.001-3.49
Median	0.49	0.42	0.51
IQR	0.11-0.66	0.25-0.59	0.07-1.08
Ruminococcus				0.754	0.00
Minimum-maximum	0.00E+00-3.05E-02	2.55E-05-3.41E-02	0.00E+00-6.48E-03
Median	4.41E-04	1.45E-03	2.80E-03
IQR	0.00E+00-5.25E-03	1.01E-03-9.70E-03	6.55E-04-4.43E-03
Lactobacilli				0.607	0.00
Minimum-maximum	2.62E-02-4.45E-01	1.34E-02-2.76E-01	1.22E-04-4.87E-01
Median	1.67E-01	9.06E-02	2.37E-01
IQR	1.54E-01-2.77E-01	3.19E-02-1.76E-01	3.79E-02-4.30E-01
Bifidobacteria				0.098^a	0.203
Minimum-maximum	1.11E-02-5.58E-01	8.89E-04-1.82E-01	4.51E-03-1.95E-01
Median	1.37E-01	1.34E-03	1.11E-01
IQR	1.18E-01-3.59E-01	1.09E-03-4.66E-02	9.32E-02-1.24E-01
Akkermancia muciniphila				0.631	0.00
Minimum-maximum	0.00E+00-8.95E-02	0.00E+00-7.31E-05	0.00E+00-2.80E-03
Median	0.00E+00	7.80E-06	0.00E+00
IQR	0.00E+00-0.00E+00	0.00E+00-3.00E-05	0.00E+00-0.00E+00
Faecalibacterium prausnitzii				0.344	0.01
Minimum-maximum	1.14E-03-3.81E-01	5.37E-04-2.69E-02	0.00E+00-2.54E-01
Median	3.26E-02	1.32E-02	8.53E-02
IQR	9.10E-03-1.84E-01	3.79E-03-2.29E-02	1.50E-02-1.84E-01
Clostridium difficile				-	-
Minimum-maximum	0.00E+00-0.00E+00	0.00E+00-0.00E+00	0.00E+00-0.00E+00
Median	0.00E+00	0.00E+00	0.00E+00
IQR	0.00E+00-0.00E+00	0.00E+00-0.00E+00	0.00E+00-0.00E+00
Escherichia coli				0.656	0.00
Minimum-maximum	1.59E-01-8.63E-01	1.82E-01-8.49E-01	2.15E-02-4.13E-01
Median	3.87E-01	3.58E-01	2.84E-01
IQR	2.44E-01-5.90E-01	2.23E-01-5.71E-01	2.12E-01-3.77E-01
Bacteroides fragilis				0.898	0.00
Minimum-maximum	0.00E+00-3.00E-01	0.00E+00-5.40E-02	0.00E+00-3.21E-01
Median	9.70E-03	2.43E-03	1.54E-02
IQR	0.00E+00-1.23E-01	5.19E-05-1.71E-02	2.55E-03-2.63E-02
Lactobacillus reuteri				> 0.99	0.00
Minimum-maximum	0.00E+00-0.00E+00	0.00E+00-1.73E-05	0.00E+00-1.64E-05
Median	0.00E+00	0.00E+00	0.00E+00
IQR	0.00E+00-0.00E+00	0.00E+00-4.33E-06	0.00E+00-0.00E+00
Lactobacillus plantarum				0.831	0.00
Minimum-maximum	0.00E+00-2.17E-02	0.00E+00-3.76E-05	0.00E+00-4.81E-03
Median	0.00E+00	0.00E+00	0.00E+00
IQR	0.00E+00-6.62E-04	0.00E+00-9.40E-06	0.00E+00-3.86E-05
Bifidobacterium longum				0.413	0.00
Minimum-maximum	0.00E+00-2.06E-01	1.47E-05-8.79E-02	0.00E+00-4.27E-02
Median	3.73E-02	5.01E-04	1.64E-02
IQR	1.41E-02-1.16E-01	1.89E-04-2.25E-02	3.90E-03-2.58E-02
Diversity index				0.094^a	0.209
Minimum-maximum	1.47-1.94	1.00-1.78	1.60-1.95
mean ± SD	1.648 ± 0.194	1.350 ± 0.334	1.787 ± 0.147
Median	1.61	1.31	1.8
IQR	1.49-1.76	1.15-1.51	1.68-1.90
Dissimilarity index				-	-
Minimum-maximum	32.00%-45.00%	37.00%-47.00%	-
mean ± SD	40.000% ± 5.215%	40.250% ± 4.573%	-
Median	42.5%	38.5%	-

^aP ≤ 0.10 was considered statistically significant.

P value was calculated via the Kruskal-Wallis test. Epsilon squared (ε²): < 0 (no effect), 0.00-0.01 (negligible), 0.01-0.04 (weak effect), 0.04-0.16 (moderate effect), 0.16-0.36 (relatively strong effect), 0.36-0.64 (strong effect), 0.64-1.00 (very strong effect) based on Rea and Parker[24] in 2014. NEC: Necrotizing enterocolitis; IQR: Inter quartile range; F/B: Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes; P/B: Prevotella/Bifidobacteria.

Full Size Table

Citation: Hassan EH, Zaghloul W, Ahmed SM, Ghozi AM, Abdelwahab IA. Study of the gut microbiome profile in full-term infants with necrotizing enterocolits. World J Clin Pediatr 2026; 15(2): 112551
URL: https://www.wjgnet.com/2219-2808/full/v15/i2/112551.htm
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.5409/wjcp.v15.i2.112551

Hassan EH, Zaghloul W, Ahmed SM, Ghozi AM, Abdelwahab IA. Study of the gut microbiome profile in full-term infants with necrotizing enterocolits. World J Clin Pediatr 2026; 15(2): 112551 [DOI: 10.5409/wjcp.v15.i2.112551]

All content on this site: Copyright © 1993-2026 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, its licensors, and contributors. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies. For all open access content, the relevant licensing terms apply.