Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is associated with a reduced risk of developing dyslipidemia and non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases. Given that the gut microbiota plays a significant role in cholesterol metabolism, we compared the differences in gut microbial diversity and composition between HBV-infected and uninfected subjects. A prospective case–control study was designed comprising healthy controls (group A) and HBV-infected individuals (group B) in a 1:1 ratio (57 participants each; total = 114). The patients in group B were divided into two subgroups according to their HBV DNA loads: B1 < 2000 IU/mL (N = 40) and B2 ≥ 2000 IU/mL (N = 17). In a pairwise comparison of HBV-infected individuals and controls, higher alpha diversity was noted in group B, and the difference was significant only in patients in group B1. Alloprevotella and Eubacterium coprostanoligenes were predominant in group B1 compared to the control, whereas the abundance of Bacteroides fragilis and Prevotella 2 was lower. The gut microbiome in HBV-infected individuals with a low viral load is highly diverse and is dominated by specific taxa involved in fatty acid and lipid metabolism. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a correlation between the presence of certain bacterial taxa and chronic HBV infection depending on the load of HBV DNA.

中文翻译：

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慢性乙型肝炎患者肠道微生物组多样性与乙型肝炎病毒载量的关系

乙型肝炎病毒 (HBV) 感染与发生血脂异常和非酒精性脂肪肝疾病的风险降低有关。鉴于肠道微生物群在胆固醇代谢中起着重要作用，我们比较了 HBV 感染者和未感染者肠道微生物多样性和组成的差异。设计了一项前瞻性病例对照研究，包括健康对照（A 组）和 HBV 感染者（B 组），比例为 1:1（每人 57 名参与者；总数 = 114）。B组患者根据其HBV DNA载量分为两个亚组：B1 < 2000 IU/mL（N = 40）和B2 ≥ 2000 IU/mL（N = 17）。在 HBV 感染者和对照组的成对比较中，B 组的 alpha 多样性较高，并且差异仅在 B1 组的患者中显着。与对照组相比，B1 组中 Alloprevotella 和 Eubacterium coprostanoligenes 占优势，而 Bacteroides fragilis 和 Prevotella 2 的丰度较低。低病毒载量的 HBV 感染者的肠道微生物组高度多样化，主要由参与脂肪酸和脂质代谢的特定分类群主导。据我们所知，这是首次证明某些细菌分类群的存在与慢性 HBV 感染之间存在相关性，具体取决于 HBV DNA 的载量。