Gut microbiota alterations in renal transplant recipients and the risk of urinary tract infection and delayed graft function: A preliminary prospective study.

Background: The implication of gut microbiota in the gut-kidney axis affects the pathophysiology of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Gut microbiota composition changes during CKD. We aimed to determine the relative frequency of important gut microbiota members in end-stage renal disease (ERSD) patients before and after renal transplantation compared to healthy subjects.
Methods: Fifteen kidney transplant patients and 10 healthy subjects were recruited in this case-control prospective study. Fecal samples were taken sequentially from all patients before kidney transplantation, 1 week, and 1 month after it. The relative frequency of Lactobacillus spp., Bifidobacterium spp., Akkermansia muciniphila, Bacteroides fragilis, Escherichia coli , and Faecalibacterium pruasnitzii were determined through quantitative PCR. The obtained data was statistically analyzed by Stata software (Stata Corporation, USA).
Results: The mean log number of all bacteria was significantly higher in healthy individuals than kidney transplant recipients ( p  < 0.001) except for Lactobacillus where the mean levels were almost identical in the two groups ( p  = 0.67). Moreover, 20% (3) of patients developed a urinary tract infection. Besides, 2 (13.33%) patients were diagnosed with delayed graft function. There were no statistically significant differences regarding changing trends in bacteria log number of Akkermansia muciniphila ( p  = 0.12), Bacteroid fragilis ( p  = 0.75), Bifidobacterium ( p  = 0.99), Escherichia coli ( p  = 0.5), Faecalibacterium ( p  = 0.98), and Lactobacilli ( p  = 0.93) between patients with and without delayed graft function (DGF).
Conclusion: Gut microbiota composition in patients with ESRD was significantly different from those without it. However, the microbiota profile did not significantly differ in patients with and without DGF.
Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.