Associations between intestinal flora diversity and IgA nephropathy

Objective Intestinal flora participates in human immune regulation by affecting intestinal mucosa and altered distribution and diversity of intestinal flora change the immune response of human body. This study preliminarily explained the distribution characteristics of intestinal flora in IgA nephropathy patients by comparing the distribution characteristics and differences of intestinal flora between IgA nephropathy patients and normal controls. Methods Fecal samples of patients diagnosed as IgA nephropathy undergoing kidney biopsy between October 2018 and October 2019 were collected as IgA group. And fecal samples from healthy people were collected as normal control group. Twenty samples from each group were submitted for biodiversity analysis,including OTU,species classification,Alpha diversity and Beta diversity,etc.Results Seven OTUs in IgA group were different from those in normal control group. LEfSe analysis between groups revealed that o_Enterobacteriales and f_Enterobacteriaceae had a great influence on the species difference of samples. From the perspective of species composition,the species composition of healthy control group was more abundant than that of IgA group,and species uniformity was also higher than that of IgAN patients. Conclusion The diversity of intestinal flora declines in patients with IgA nephropathy and there is also a change of dominant flora. This study provides preliminary rationales for further researches on preventing IgA nephropathy and improving disease prognosis through regulating the distribution of intestinal flora.