Application of serum bile acid profile as a new marker for gut microbiota

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26461022
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Gastroenterology
• Research Institution: Tokyo Medical University
• Principal Investigator: Honda Akira 東京医科大学, 医学部, 教授 (10468639)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 胆汁酸 / LC-MS/MS / 腸内細菌叢 / 消化器疾患

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Primary bile acids biosynthesized in the liver are metabolized to secondary bile acids by specific microbes in human intestine. We hypothesized that the individual bile acid profile in feces, and possibly in serum, could be a convenient biomarker for the gut microbiota. The fecal microbiota profile in patients with gastrointestinal diseases and healthy controls were determined by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis. Bile acid compositions in serum and feces from the same subjects were also quantified by HPLC-MS/MS. Our results showed that the fecal proportions of some bacterial clusters were significantly and positively correlated with not only fecal but also serum proportions of specific bile acids. Therefore, the serum bile acid profile could be a convenient surrogate marker for the intestinal proportion of a certain bacterial cluster.

Free Research Field

消化器内科学